The San Francisco Bay Area real estate market is going through a transitional phase as home prices adjust to changing economic and housing trends. Homes are finally becoming more affordable, although the regional cost of living remains expensive.
Here is a closer look at how home prices have performed during 2022 and what the latest Bay Area housing market predictions are.
Bay Area Housing Market Trends
With approximately eight million residents, real estate prices and market trends can vary by city and county. However, there are many overlapping pricing trends impacting buyers and sellers.
What Is the Bay Area?
The Association of Bay Area Governments considers these nine counties to be the San Francisco Bay Area:
Alameda Contra Costa Marin Napa San Francisco San Mateo Santa Clara Solano Sonoma Housing Inventory Remains Tight
In October 2022, there were 2.4 months of unsold inventory in the Bay Area—which is the lowest supply level statewide—according to the California Housing Market Update from the California Association of Realtors (CAR).
Additionally, the median days on the market for home listings is 20 days in the October CAR report, which is notably less than the national median of 51 days. Buyers are continuing to snap up properties and in the Central and Southern California markets had a median of 20 and 22 days, respectively.
However, fewer sellers are listing homes in 2022 versus 2021. For example, Realtor.com Research reports that new listings in November 2022 were down 28% year-over-year. There were only 2,978 new listings compared to 4,134 last September.
As a result, CAR reports a 37.3% year-over-year decrease in existing home sales.
Prices Are Starting to Decline
Buyers are less likely to encounter bidding wars and potentially pay above asking price for the first time since the early months of the