Congrats to the Real Bay Area cities whose median sold home price went up greater than 30%!

Now, let’s dissect the data. Obviously Hillsborough and Atherton went up by 40% because everyday a new millionaire is minted (billionaires are only minted on Thursdays.)

Mountain View is kind of obvious because of Google, Google, Google, and Global Beads at 345 Castro Street.

But Redwood City? Damn!

The last time Redwood City soared like this was back in 2006… when dead people were getting mortgages. But this time it’s different. The paradigm has shifted. There’s Facebook next door and a Philz.

And look at the difference it has made to the schools according to Great Schools:

Oh. Uh. Yeah.

Well whatever. Nothing can stop us now. It’s only a matter of time before even Redwood City will beat our mortal enemy Manhattan in price per square foot. (I hear they’re already whimpering in fear.)

Let’s look at how house prices will look in 5 years based on the current growth levels (and as always, past performance is indicative of future results):

Yep, that’s right. You heard it first. I’m calling Redwood City at $4.3M and Mountain View at $4.7M in 2019. Nothing can stop us now!

What are your forecasts for 2019?

Great news everyone!

The Median Home Price to Median Income ratio just exceeded 9x in 2014 Q4! To be precise, it was 9.16x!

And with house prices growing 20% year over year, my guess is that when when the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index data for 2015 Q1 comes out, the Real Bay Area will easily exceed the peak of 9.27x set in 2007 Q2!

Where will this ratio go? It’s obvious that by the end of this year, it will be 10x… but when will it happen?

Great work everyone! The real question is: How can we drive this to 20x?

San Franciscans have already done their part by blocking new homes from being built. Redwood City-ers have succeeded with their protests of building more homes. Mountain View, Palo Alto, Millbrae, Burlingame: You guys need to pass laws to destroy existing apartments (because renters aren’t humans anyway).

What are your suggestions? Let’s hear them in the comments!

Here’s a photo from an open house for a starter home in the Real Bay Area.

Been to any open houses lately?

They just keep going, and going, and going, and going!

To infinity and beyond!

Modest Bay Area homes hit mind-boggling prices

Two years of tight supply and intense demand have pushed prices for modest Bay Area homes in trendy neighborhoods to mind-boggling heights.

In Palo Alto, tiny homes sell for multiple millions of dollars. In Oakland’s sought-after Rockridge district, a home just sold for $500,000 over the asking price.

On both sides of the bay, it’s the location that commands the biggest price, even as the amount paid per square foot reached new peaks in more than a third of 155 Bay Area ZIP codes analyzed for this newspaper by CoreLogic DataQuick.

With the price of homes in Palo Alto skyrocketing, Ken Plourde, a 79-year-old retired jazz bass player, decided it was time to sell the home he bought for $35,000 in 1970.

"I was sitting on a gold mine," said Plourde, whose income from music gigs has been declining with his advancing years and changes in the live music business.

The 992-square-foot-home within walking distance of Stanford University was snapped up in one day by a wealthy Stanford graduate in China for $3 million, a price that comes to just over $3,000 a square foot.

…

Real estate agents say two groups are leading the pack of home shoppers in Silicon Valley: newly wealthy tech workers and overseas buyers, particularly from Asia.

Congrats to the Bay Area. You are making me so proud.

2015 is the year where the median price will be $1250 per square foot across the entire real Silicon Valley. I just know it!

Maybe it’s time to retire this blog.

Last week we highlighted how awesome and fantastic it is that San Francisco (aka the Real Bay Area) finally crushed Manhattan and New York in terms of how expensive housing has become.

So, for some data – and using some newer, brighter, colors.

Hmm… looks like there’s still some improvement here. It looks like the South Bay really needs to step up its game to ensure that the Price/Income ratio beats that of New York metro!

Hm, it looks like the blue line is sagging below the redline. That means housing is still probably too cheap. We need it to look more like the good ol’ days of 2003-2007!

Yeah, some room for improvement here as well!

Ok people, let’s get to work on driving up these prices!

http://time.com/money/3063930/the-15-most-expensive-cities-for-millennials/

When it comes to least affordable counties to buy a house, four of NYC’s five boroughs take up almost a third of the list, with Manhattan (New York County), Brooklyn (Kings Country), the Bronx (Bronx County), and Queens (Queens Country), each “earning” a spot.

The West Coast isn’t off the hook, either. Beating out Manhattan for the dubious honor of most expensive city for young people is San Francisco. Buying a median-priced three-bedroom house—$950,000 as of this April— in the City by the Bay will cost median income earners more than 78% of their wages.

I really can’t help but have tears of joy every time I see this chart.

For so long, all of us worked together to ensure that the Real Bay Area would one day defeat our arch nemesis, Manhattan, to ensure that we were the most expensive place to buy real estate.

And now the news is spreading far and wide that we’ve done this.

San Francisco beats Manhattan (aka New York County), Brooklyn (aka Kings County), Queens, and (I’m guessing) Staten Island. All 5 boroughs. A sweep. One city crushes another city.

Sure, we still need to beat Tokyo and London. But this is a fantastic start.

And there’s more. By being more expensive than NY, we will attract attention as being expensive – this will help prices soar even further as panic buying sets in.

Watch out Tokyo and London – you’re next.

In the meantime, take that New York and Manhattan! We’re #1! We’re #1! And more people know it than ever now!

What will you be doing to help us beat those cities?

The Real Bay Area is all about data. Big data!

So here’s some big data!

Green line continues to be below the blue line.

Is now the best time to buy? Ever?

Where are all the math/finance nerds?

Thanks to Burbed reader Nomadic for this find:

Stash Pad

Those on the New York end of the transaction often don’t know—or don’t care to find out—the exact derivation of foreign money involved in these transactions. “Sometimes they come in with wires,” says Luigi Rosabianca. “Sometimes they come in with suitcases.” Most of the time, the motivation behind this movement of cash, and buyers’ desire for privacy, is legitimate, but sometimes it’s not. An inquiry by theInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a Washington-based nonprofit, has uncovered numerous cases in which New York real estate figured in foreign financial- and political-corruption scandals. “It’s something that is never discussed, but it’s the elephant in the room,” says Rosabianca. “Real estate is a wonderful way to cleanse money. Once you buy real estate, the derivation of that cash is forgotten.”

More typically, though, foreign buyers are searching for a favorable investment climate and the identity protection provided by an LLC. Rosabianca’s client, the Italian, lives in Nigeria, where her husband is in the oil business. But she said she was still a tax resident of her home country, giving me a knowing look. Italy taxes its citizens’ overseas assets—if it can find them. “To invest in Italy now is terrible,” she said. So the Italian spent most of her Sunday in taxis, bouncing from Gramercy to Tribeca to the High Line in search of the right place to store her wealth.

She ended up back downtown at 75 Wall Street, where she saw a unit she liked: a one-bedroom belonging to a Panamanian-owned company. She ended up making an offer on both that one and the condo at 20 Pine, but ultimately settled on yet another unit at 75 Wall for $1.3 million. The seller was also an LLC, its true owner unknown.

(Click to enlarge)

How unfortunate. How very, very, very unfortunate.

Not once does this article mention the Real Bay Area. Where is Cupertino in any of this? Palo Alto? Even San Francisco?

Why is New York getting all this laundered money?

Dear Russians, Nigerians, Chinese, Brazilians – the Real Bay Area is just as prestigious as Manhattan and London. Please send your millions of dollars in cash and loose diamonds here. We need your help to drive real estate to $5,000 per square foot!

Please act today!

How big is that house, really?

Square footage is a moving target, professionals say

A home’s square footage is a number easily misrepresented, especially when determining ever-ambiguous "liveable space." Measurements can be taken in numerous ways, and what to include in those measurements — garages, basements or porches — is often unclear.

…

"There are customs … that vary from community to community," Dreyfus said. "There’s no universal way of arriving at that number."

In the Real Bay Area, we are all locavores. As a result we deeply respect the right of local communities to make the right decisions on things.

For example: If you put an extra mattress in a garage in Redwood City, of course that should be counted as part of the sqft! But that would never be acceptable in, say, a far-away land like Atherton.

But fear not… realtors are here to help!

Article 12 of the Code states, "Realtors shall be honest and truthful in their real-estate communications and shall present a true picture in their advertising, marketing, and other representations."

Violating any part of the Code could mean expulsion from the organization or fines.

As well know, Realtors are the paragon of truth telling. I, for one, would welcome our Realtor overlords… for they would definitely be fair and just. And nothing is more fair and just than this:

"If you put furniture in it, it’s livable space," said Harrison, noting that common sense and a required training process can help clarify the term for Realtors and real-estate agents who post on the site.

Remember my mattress in the garage example? Even if the mattress is leaning against the wall, it will count (maybe you’re a former astronaut relocating to Redwood City – climate best by government test after all.)

But according to Harrison, misrepresentation in real estate doesn’t happen often.

"Very rarely does anyone go in and put in a ficticious square-footage number," he said.

Also, since sellers are almost on the verge of taking the next step by requiring bids being placed without even seeing the house, why bother worrying?

After all… housing prices can only go up, so what’s a few sqft.

How would you measure a home?