From the guys at Socketsite, realtor Damion Matthew's thoughtful look at what's going on in SoMa with new condo developments and the sales numbers their marketing firms are claiming.
The marketing firms are incredibly stingy with information. After all, creating scarcity- or the illusion of it- is one of the primary rules of selling. Very little in these projects gets on the MLS except in the case of resales, although there are some Watermark SF listings . Prices are rarely posted on marketing websites, and broker participation is not exactly encouraged. The Watermark SF website goes so far as to announce that buyer's representatives will only be paid a "referral fee" if they register at the first visit, meaning fundamentally that a consumer has to forgo future professional representation just by looking at model apartments.
Best and most apt, however, is the last line, where Socketsite wields the term flight to quality. Curbed SF thinks San Francisco values will generally hold up well in what may become a bear market, but in an area like SoMA where thousands of units are coming on the market, look for a lot of competition. People don't overspend on spec crap when they don't have to.
· What's Really Going On? (Part 1) [Socketsite]
· SF Watermark
· 501 Beale Street, 12H {Alan P. Mark, The Mark Company]