Loading ...Luxury By The Bay
Offered at $12.5 million, this 8,000-square foot French provincial estate is located in exclusive Atherton.
Movie stars show off their glamorous mansions in Beverly Hills and Malibu, but many of the Golden State’s most opulent residences are in the San Francisco Bay Area. A diverse housing inventory—elegant townhomes in cosmopolitan neighborhoods, magnificent waterfront estates, and splendid wine country villas—accommodates a wide range of lifestyles.
At press time, there were approximately 600 homes priced at more than $3 million in the Bay Area (including Napa Valley, but excluding San Jose). 52 properties were priced in excess of $10 million, including a 20,600-square foot villa in San Francisco’s exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood, listed at $65 million.
TRI Coldwell Banker’s Malin Giddings, who specializes in the tony San Francisco neighborhoods of Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights and Russian Hill, acknowledges significant price declines, but reports the entry point for a single-family home with no views and some required maintenance is still about $3.5 million. “For a recently renovated home in a beautiful location, you should expect to spend $6-8 million,” she says, noting those properties offer at least 6,000 square feet, but still no views. Showcasing spectacular Golden Gate vistas, however, is a full-floor co-op listed at $8.5 million, which Giddings considers the finest on the West Coast. Such premier properties are still scarce, but more available than at the height of the market. “San Francisco has declined less than other cities, and we still have unbelievable demand…We’ll come back first,” insists Giddings.
Olivia Hsu Decker, of Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty, reports a significant increase in sales since June 2009 and believes 2010 could be a year of recovery. Her firm dominates the $5 million-plus market in Marin County, where the communities of Tiburon and Belvedere (just north of the Golden Gate Bridge) are among the most coveted. One of Hsu Decker’s listings, a spectacular Belvedere estate, is priced to sell at $48 million after a reduction from $65 million. That kind of price-slashing is an anomaly, however, and she reports that some $10 million properties in San Francisco have been selling at or above asking price. “Buyers know they’re in the driver’s seat and are shopping longer than in the past,” observes Hsu Decker, adding, “The majority of my work is to bridge the big gap between the buyer’s offering price and the seller’s unrealistic expectations.”
Midway between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Atherton is an affluent community with an average sales price of approximately $3.4 million. At press time, six $10 million properties were on the market there, and Brent Gullixson of Alain Pinel Realtors reports that level of investment results in about 11,000 square feet of recent construction with ample amenities. The Hopkins-McNear Estate, a magnificent 17,000-square foot landmark, is currently offered at $14.9 million. “After a tough start to 2009, summer was strong as buyers began to get back into the market,” says Gullixson, who reports sales volume in the third quarter of 2009 was higher than the third and fourth quarters of 2008 combined.
In Blackhawk, 30 miles east of San Francisco, buyers need an investment of at least $2 million to break into the luxury market. A collection of gated neighborhoods, this community is so desirable that Blackhawk Real Estate’s Diane Gilfether reports most buyers are already residents, either trading up or downsizing. She is cautiously optimistic about 2010 but does not underestimate continued challenges. “The properties that are moving are those priced realistically, or those whose owners have priced them ahead of the market,” reports Gilfether. One of her listings, a distinctive 8,000-square foot home, is offered at $5.5 million.
DID YOU KNOW?
Number of $10 Million-Plus Properties on the Market in the Bay Area: 52
Number of $25 Million-Plus Properties: 9
Highest Priced Current Listing (Pacific Heights, San Francisco): $65 million
Price of Tasting Menu at The French Laundry Restaurant, Napa Valley: $240
Number of Billionaires Residing in San Francisco (source: Forbes.com): 19
Most Expensive Suburb in California (source: Business Week): Atherton
