I’m excited to be ringing in the new year with my first Glen Park Real Estate blog post! For those who don’t know me, my name is Amanda Martin, and I am a real estate agent with BarbCo Real Estate Group (aka Barbagelata, circa 1952). I started working with buyers and sellers in 2014, and eventually moved to managing the brokerage. I’ve since come back to my true love, working directly with home buyers and sellers.
As a third-generation San Franciscan, I work with clients all over San Francisco as well as in Marin County, but Glen Park in particular holds a very special place in my heart. During my younger years I lived on Diamond Heights Boulevard—where my family still lives—across from beautiful Glen Canyon. I spent many a morning eating crepes at Higher Grounds and picnicking in Glen Canyon with the absolute best sandwiches from The Cheese Boutique.
Watching the neighborhood evolve over the past 30-plus years has been a joy. When in 2017 I had the idea of getting a mural painted in the neighborhood, I had no inkling how long it would take. Everything finally came together in April of 2020 thanks to the Hayes family helping out with the wall of their property at Kern and Diamond. From the initial design to Amos Goldbaum finally getting paint to stucco, it was so fun being involved in that project, and it warms my heart every time I walk by and see that beautiful Glen Park scene on the side of Pebbles Cafe. The people who love this neighborhood have done such a great job with all of the beautification projects over the past few years and I’m looking forward to what is to come.
What’s going on with San Francisco real estate, and more specifically, Glen Park real estate? Well, it’s a wild and crazy ride, as it has been for quite some time. Since 2015, we’ve been saying, “it’s got to cool down sometime,” but the market never seems to listen. This is great news for sellers but not such great news for buyers, who face some of the lowest inventory ever and a huge pool of competition.
The saving grace for home buyers is that the interest rates for mortgages are still incredibly low. Those who haven’t followed mortgage rates for very long might think rates are getting high when they inch close to a 3.5% rate on a 30-year fixed—but take a look at historical rates and imagine getting a loan in 1981 with an interest rate of almost 19%! That said, it does look like the rates will be creeping up in the next year-plus, so buyers are looking to lock in today’s lower rates.
The shocker that was the 2020 pandemic real estate market continued through 2021.
Most everyone’s prediction of a slowdown when everything shut down in March of 2020 evaporated in about a month’s time. From then on it was full steam ahead, with people making life changes at an unprecedented pace. Last year continued the momentum of mass movement within the city, as well as increases in people moving to the city AND people moving away. In 2021, the condo market rebounded from its 2020 slump, while the single-family market grew hotter than ever.
Prior to 2020, houses over $2 million took longer to sell and sold closer to their asking price, but in 2021 we saw a huge uptick in houses all the way up to $4 million getting multiple offers with less time on the market and selling for a higher amount above asking. Meanwhile, houses in the sub $2 millions would often sell in days for 30% + over asking. This has made it difficult for buyers to navigate the market simply by searching on online platforms using realistic price parameters. Now more than ever, a real estate agent is necessary for truly assessing the value of a property and giving buyers a strategy to submit a winning offer.
Here are some sales highlights for Glen Park in 2021*:
- 89 single-family homes were sold in 2021 (compared with 75 in 2020 and 80 in 2019)
- 26 condos/TICs (tenancy in common) were sold in 2021 (compared with 19 in 2020 and only 7 in 2019)
- Lowest price single family home sale: 165 Moffitt St. sold on 2/11/21 for $905,000 – this was a 1508 square foot tenant-occupied fixer property. Click for property info
- Highest price single family home sale: 224 Laidley St. sold on 12/10/21 for $5,499,000 – this was an exquisite view home with stunning roof deck. This house was recently renovated from a 1700 square foot home to 3300 square feet. Listing agent Rusty Wadatz from Sotheby’s was also the designer for all of the finishes. Click for property info
- Lowest price condo/TIC sale: 158 Laidley St. #2 sold on 09/07/21 for $570,000 – this tiny studio was only 415 square feet but had amazing views and garage parking. At $1,397/square foot, this little jewel box rivals the average price per square foot in Pacific Heights! Click for property info
- Highest price condo/TIC sale: 42 Chenery sold on 04/09/21 for $3,530,000. This property was huge at 4200 square feet and had 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. Though this property is technically a condo, it is a free-standing building. Click for property info
- Median sales price for single family homes was $2,201,000 (compared with $1,775,000 in 2020 and $1,777,500 in 2019)
- Median sales price for condos/TICs was $1,397,500 (compared with $1,300,000 in 2020 and $1,325,000 in 2019)
- Median price per square foot for single family homes was $1,155 (compared with $1,112 in 2020 and $1,087 in 2019)
- Median price per square foot for condos/TICs was $975 (compared with $1,111 in 2020 and $1,053 in 2019)
- Median days on market for single family homes was 11 (compared with 14 in 2020 and 13 in 2019)
- Median days on market for condos/TICs was 15 (compared with 21 in 2020 and 33 in 2019)
You can see an interactive google sheet of the above image here.
As we move full steam ahead into 2022, I anticipate we will continue to see the same buyer needs/wants as we have been seeing throughout these last two very unique years. Extra space for an office, remote classroom or gym will be at a premium. Some of the trend towards completely open concepts will transition towards open areas with nooks for separation, and outdoor living spaces will set certain properties apart. San Francisco is a very special city and there’s nothing like it in the world! Glen Park in particular is a gem of a small town in a big city, and with no room to sprawl you can bet that buyers who prevail in this competitive market will find their investment grows over time. For sellers, with the demand out there and only just over 1 months’ supply of inventory, you can be sure to get a great price for your home.
I’m happy to answer any real estate questions you might have. Please feel free to reach out to me:
Amanda Martin
BarbCo Real Estate Group
415.601.9111 (Text/Call)
Amanda@RealEstateSF.com
License #01386284
AmandaMartinSF.com
My Real Estate Stats Webpage
Glen Park Real Estate Time Machine: Jumping off from our earlier experiment, in which we tried to imagine buying a single-family home 40 years ago in 1981 with a 19% interest rate on the mortgage…This time let’s split the difference and go back 20 years to 2001, and see how Glen Park real estate figures that year compared to numbers from just-completed 2021:
In 2001, a total of 79 homes sold in Glen Park, compared to 115 in 2021 (these and the following figures combine single family homes and condos). In 2001, the median sale price was $599,000, versus $1,900,500 in 2021 (a 217% increase!). Along similar lines, cost per square foot was $397, versus $1,103 in 2021 (a 178% increase!). The data is clear: “Dot-com” boom aside, Glen Park property was much cheaper 20 years ago. But if you somehow manage to travel back to 2001 to buy a home in Glen Park, and you’re hoping to use your leftover capital to buy groceries, you’re out of luck: With Diamond Super having burned down in 1998, and Canyon Market not opening until 2006, you will have landed in Glen Park’s dreaded “Grocery Desert” era! Oh well…at least you’d have had a good excuse to eat at Higher Grounds every day!
*Data pulled from SFAR MLS records