While the median sale price of homes in San Francisco, California, has started climbing back after the huge drops reported in late 2023, condo sellers in the city’s downtown are still settling for prices much below pre-pandemic levels in order to offload their properties, according to the latest data.
As of Monday morning, there were a total of 770 condos listed for sale on Zillow in San Francisco by agents and owners, of which 124 had a price reduction. By comparison, in all of California there were 9,309 condos for sale, 2,401 of which had a price reduction.
San Francisco’s condos were hit particularly hard by the housing market downturn which struck the Bay Area during the pandemic, with the city’s condo values plunging by 12.8 percent between February 2020 and February 2024, according to Zillow, from $1.14 million to $997,000. During the same timeframe, the city’s single-family home values fell from $1.44 million to $1.36 million as remote workers left in droves, looking for cheaper properties elsewhere.
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As home prices are slowly bouncing back in the city, with Zillow reporting an increase in the median home value in the city of 0.8 percent year-over-year in June, condos are also expected to see a rise in price. But for now, many sellers are still slashing prices, presenting an incredible opportunity to buyers betting on a comeback of downtown San Francisco.
Vacation rental investor Rohin Dhar, who often shares Zillow listings with significant price drops on social media, posted on X, formerly Twitter, about several condos in San Francisco which recently sold for less than they were purchased for about a decade ago.
A 1,845 square feet, two-bedroom condo at 301 Main Street in downtown San Francisco was sold on Zillow for $1.87 million on July 8, after its price was reduced by $49,768 or 2.6 percent in the last 30 days.
In 2015, according to the listing, the same unit had been purchased for $2.369 million. It was then put up for sale on April 1 for $2,099,000, but its price was reduced twice more before it sold. The real estate platform estimates the market value of the property to be slightly lower than it sold for, at $1,869,800.
The asking price for a 938 square feet, one-bedroom condo at 175 Bluxome St was reduced on July 11 to $625,000 from an initial listed price of $725,000, a 13.8 percent drop. It was less than what was originally asked for the property when it was put up for sale in May 2013 for $675,000 and what the condo eventually fetched in July of the same year, when it was purchased for $649,000.
Between 2016 and March 2023, according to Zillow, the condo was listed for rent.
Dhar ventured saying that, with such a dramatic price drop, the condo at 175 Bluxome Street was “not a bad deal.” “Decent location near Ballpark, Caltrain, and Mission Bay. Has parking and a patio. Has a large den so basically a 2 bedroom. Exempt from SF rent control. […] Kind of one worth exploring,” he wrote on X.
Another condo at the Four Seasons in downtown San Francisco sold on July 11 for $1.25 million—less than the $1.65 million it fetched in 2005. The two-bedroom property at 765 Market Street, located on the 33rd of 40 floors and with “stunning water views overlooking the waterfall at Yerba Buena Gardens,” saw a price drop of $380,997 or 23.4 percent in the past 30 days.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.