Coronavirus Outbreak Having Chilling Effect On San Francisco Bay Area's Real Estate Market
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Add the San Francisco Bay Area's once red-hot real estate market to restaurants, cafes, music venues and local businesses that have been dramatically impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
According to a report from the residential brokerage firm Compass, new listings have taken a dramatic tumble over the last month and dozens of homes have simply been taken off the market.
San Francisco saw 250 active listings taken off the market in the last three weeks, the San Francisco Business Times reported quoting the study. In comparison during the week of March 16, just 16 active listings were removed.
Compass analyst Patrick Carlisle found that Alameda County saw its number of active listings pulled from the market go from 32 to 135 over the same time span. In San Mateo County the numbers were 18 to 100 and Santa Clara -- the hardest hit county in the Bay Area by the virus -- saw an increase from 54 to 196.
Carlisle's numbers showed that luxury homes -- properties over $2.5 million -- were among the most dramatically impacted. His figures showed that more than 900 luxury home listings were removed from the market in the Bay Area in the week beginning March 16.
"Generally speaking, when financial markets go screwy, it is the most affluent households who are likely to become more cautious and step back quickly," he told the Business Times.