I’ve added a few new graphs showing home listing/sale and price trends for San Mateo County. Let’s be clear that affordability is an issue here. It’s not a debate. To purchase the average sale price home ($1,777,341 in June 2018), you would need over $500,000 in ready cash and an annual income of around $270,000 just to cover principal, interest, taxes and insurance at a relatively aggressive PITI to income level. Add in a couple of car payments and you can’t afford that average home. New listings seem to be on the upswing… maybe supply will finally catch up with demand.

If the Bay Area employment picture stabilizes or drops a bit, we could see home prices respond to higher interest rates by taking a dip in the coming year.