San Francisco CA Real Estate - San Francisco CA Homes For Sale | Zillow (2024)

FAQs

Are housing prices dropping in San Francisco? ›

Home prices in the city have been plummeting since reaching a peak of $1,449,470 in May 2022, with the exception of September 2023, when they saw a modest month-on-month increase from $1,226,112 to $1,228,976, according to Zillow.

San Francisco, CA housing market

The median listing home price in San Francisco, CA was $1.2M in July 2024, trending down -11.2% year-over-year. The median listing home price per square foot was $954. The median home sold price was $1.3M.

2021 and beyond is a great time to buy property in the SF Bay Area. Due to various factors, the housing market should stay strong for years to come. SF Bay Area property prices have actually underperformed during the global pandemic as people moved to less dense areas.

The cost of living in San Francisco, CA is 24% higher than the state average and 71% higher than the national average. San Francisco, CA housing is 190% more expensive than the U.S average, while utilities are about 35% pricier.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the outlook for home sales in 2024 remains robust, with projections suggesting stability compared to the previous year and possibly a slight increase.

If you're confident that you can afford the cost of the purchase (as well as the ongoing costs of property taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance and upkeep), then it may well be a good idea. San Francisco real estate has historically proven to be a wise investment.

"San Francisco tops the list in the Bay Area at $131,000," Rebecca Sowell with Consumer Affairs said. "That's the minimum income in order to live a comfortable lifestyle."

You'll need to earn triple a $100,000 salary to live well in San Francisco. This tech-focused California city has a median household income nearly double the national average. Living expenses cost 82.8% more than the national average, making it a pricey place to live.

San Francisco. In San Francisco, you need an annual household income of $404,332 to afford an average home.

This was especially the case in the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas, which had some of the highest cost differentials: In San Francisco, their data showed you'll pay nearly 96% more to own versus rent.

Is San Francisco a good place to retire? ›

In short, yes. Older adults happen to be the fastest growing age group in San Francisco, with almost 30 percent of residents hitting 60 or older by 2030, according to the San Francisco Human Services Agency. In 2010, it was 19 percent and in 2020 it was 23 percent.

February is likely the cheapest month to visit San Francisco, with January sometimes taking that spot depending on various factors each year.

In cities like San Francisco, the cost of living comfortably exponentially increased over the past year, from roughly $74,000 in 2022 to about $84,000 in 2023, Snider says. California cities' elevated cost of living can be explained, in part, by the state's high income, gas and sales taxes.

However, when looking at the San Francisco metro area, the LendingTree study found it would take an average of $1.37 million to retire. That's nearly 40% higher than the national average, the largest amount among all U.S. metros — and only about 7% away from the “magic number” finding from Northwestern Mutual.

“The market is in a recovery mode,” says Ying He, a real estate agent at Barb Co. “I feel San Francisco really hit rock bottom in the fall and winter of 2023, and the market has come back very strong since the beginning of this year.” Some homes at San Francisco's Four Seasons Residential have been selling for a loss.

San Francisco rents are flat month-over-month and down 1.0% year-over-year. The median rent in San Francisco rose by 0.5% over the course of July, and has now decreased by a total of 1.0% over the past 12 months.

Among America's 50 biggest cities, 20 show annual price declines since last year, and the metro with the steepest drop might surprise you: In Miami, the median home price plummeted 11.2% from a year earlier, to $439,000. Whether any of these softening prices will result in lower housing payments is unclear.

For the first time, the median price for a home in the state has surpassed $900,000. That's 11% more than a year ago, according to data from the California Association of Realtors. If that trend continues this year, the median price for a California home would sit above $1 million by next year.