SF home prices see big drop in January

The median price paid for new and existing Bay Area homes and condos that sold in January was $630,000, down 5.3 percent from December and up 1.6 percent from January of last year, according to CoreLogic data released Tuesday. Buyers in San Francisco want to be the first to cook on a stove and the first to use a bathroom, said Gregg Lynn, a real estate agent with Sotheby’s. The city’s condo-building boom can cause distortions in monthly data because developers generally begin selling units long before construction is completed, but sales are not recorded until the building is ready for occupancy and buyers close escrow. [...] the median price for the nine-county region rose a mere 1.6 percent because a higher share of sales occurred in the more affordable inland stretches of the Bay Area. Because they feel the future is so uncertain, “people who can choose not to sell are choosing not to sell,” Lynn said. New construction will add to supply this year, but generally in higher price ranges (except for mandatory affordable housing).