Home price median now $2M

Compass Realtor Raziel Ungar said it’s been a strong start to the year but, in the last few weeks, activity has softened. 

“There are fewer offers than I saw earlier in the year. Some people might be a little jittery … coinciding with tariffs and the stock market,” he said. “But they still sold at very strong prices.”

In March, new listings were 30% higher year over year, according to the market report but, so far this spring, Ungar said highly-anticipated seasonal activity hasn’t been as high. 

“Even in mid-April, it's still shocking to me how few homes are for sale, but it’s still a competitive market,” he said. 

Federal interest rates haven’t gone down since the winter, though both the 15- and 30-year fixed mortgage rates have started climbing over the last couple weeks, after a steady decline from January. 

Ungar said the condominium market has been particularly impacted lately, which he thinks is largely due to the ability for buyers to get single-family starter homes that aren’t significantly pricier. 

“The condo market is having a really tough time right now … we’re seeing properties that sold four to six years ago that have not appreciated at all,” Ungar said. “If you’re a condo buyer now, you can get some really good buys. If you’re a seller, you want to be realistic about pricing.”

The county still maintains a top spot as one of the Bay Area counties with the highest home values. Over the past year, home values for a two-bedroom house in San Mateo averaged about $1.31 million, slightly higher than both San Francisco and Santa Clara. 

The Los Angeles fires will also likely wreak havoc on an already volatile home insurance market. Many insurers have ceased writing new policies in the state altogether, and increasingly more neighborhoods are deemed hazardous areas per companies’ own fire risk maps. Even before the devastating L.A. fires, about 33% of suburban home buyers in the county said they had difficulty purchasing insurance last year, compared to 17% the year before, according to Compass data.

The home insurance market has also affected buyers, and Realtors are also advising clients to to get multiple quotes for insurance before running an offer, Ungar said.