The Mark Company released its quarterly assessment of the health of the SF condo market this weekend, and there is plenty for statistics nerds to geek out on. Running through all of the numbers, it appears that the decreasing inventory of new construction has at least helped stabilize the market for new units. The number of for-sale residential units under construction decreased to 212 through the first quarter. This is the lowest number of units under construction since pre-2004. With only 32 units currently permitted, standing inventories are now similar to the first quarter of 2006, when there were 4,000 additional units under construction.
What does all of this mean for prices? The median price for all residential units rose to $675,000 during the quarter, 11% over the same quarter in 2009. New construction drove this bump, as the median price per foot rose 17% to $793 for the quarter. Unfortunately, the market for resale units in Districts 7, 8, and 9 saw a bit of a dip with a median price of $793,563, roughly 10% lower than 2009. Rental rates similarly dove 5%, as the shadow rental market slowly became visible. Vacancy increased to 8% in the quarter, which the report hypothesizes was due to the addition to the rental stock of 440 units at Trinity Place.
On the Market Q1 2010-[The Mark Company]