San Francisco Makes Business Insiders Top 10 Real Estate Markets That Will Thrive in 2011 List

San Francisco according to Business Insiders is one of the Top 10 Real Estate Markets That Will Thrive in 2011.  Also Trulia which provided some of the data to Business Insiders came to the same conclusion and ranked San Francisco as #1 according to On the Block.  What I found fascinating was the reasoning behind there conclusions which I have bullet pointed below based on quotes from both their sites.

• Families who can afford a home: 28.0%
• Job growth in tech and life science sectors. Job growth over the decade: # of high-tech computer jobs in SF have doubled from 8,000 to more than 16,000 (SF Center for Economic Development) # of life sciences jobs in SF has grown 5X to 2,750, up from 500 in 2004.
• Although prices have risen by 17% since their trough in February, 2009,  yet many who can afford to buy still perceive homes as relatively affordable compared with their May 2006 peak.
• Affluent San Francisco households will spend what it takes to own (vs. rent) their homes regardless of the market climate
• 9.7% unemployment, but job growth in the high income/skill sectors required to buy a home there (one of the lowest in Calif., against 12% unemployment rate for CA)
• Venture capital dollars invested into SF during the recession: over $6.3 B has been invested in software/computer and bio-tech just in 2010
  

These are some very interesting statistics.  Although I am somewhat skeptical of overall performance in San Francisco as I feel that there is a large supply of condos South of Market and in the South Beach which will in the near term drive prices down.  I will say this that we at GB and Associates have seen a lot of movement  in luxury homes where homes in the $2 million dollar plus market between 2009 and 2010 have been selling faster than any other category.