Market hellscape: Calif. city's home sellers 4 times more likely to sell at a loss than average US homeowner

Published

2 years ago

September 8, 2023

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Homeowners in San Francisco looking to sell in the troubled city are a whopping four times more likely than the average US home seller to take a loss, according to real estate brokerage Redfin.

Residents looking to get out of the city — where a once-trendy downtown area has descended into a drug-addled hellscape, and historic hotels have been converted into roach-infested “Single-Room Occupancy” housing for vagrants — can expect to sell their San Francisco abode for $100,000 less than they bought it for.

Roughly 12.3% — or one in eight — of the homes sold in the Bay Area during the three months ended July 31 was purchased for less than the seller bought it for, Redfin found.

The figure is a 5% increase from the same period a year ago, is higher than any other major US metropolis and a staggering four times the 3% national rate of homeowners who take a loss when selling their homes, according to the real estate firm.

Detroit is home to the second-highest share of homeowners who take a loss in their home-selling transactions, at 6.9%, followed by Chicago and New York, where 6.5% and 5.9% of homeowners take a loss in selling their homes, respectively.

Though the share of New York homeowners who reported a loss was half that in San Francisco, the cities were tied for the largest median loss in dollars, at $100,000, Redfin found in a separate analysis.

Thus, it’s not a surprise that San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago and New York all rank among the top 10 cities Redfin found residents want to move out of.

San Francisco ranks No. 1, New York No. 2, Chicago No. 5 and Detroit No. 9, according to Redfin.

Across the US, the average homeowner who didn’t profit off of selling their home lost $35,538, according to Redfin, which analyzed Multiple Listing Service data across the top 50 US cities of homes that were owned by the same party for at least nine months before the sale.

States where homeowners were least likely to sell at a loss: San Diego, Boston, Providence, R.I., Kansas City, Mo., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

In each of these cities, only about 1% of homes sold for less than the seller originally paid, Redfin reported.

Redfin attributed San Francisco’s unfortunate housing stats to a sharp decline in home prices triggered by high mortgage rates, which climbed to their highest level since 2001 last month.

As of April, the city’s median home price was down over 13% year over year — triple the nationwide slowdown of 4.2% — swiping a whopping $60 billion in the total value of homes since last year.

In addition, home prices in the Bay Area fell because the metro area was hit hard by mass layoffs in the tech sector, Redfin said.

Major tech firms based in San Francisco like Apple, Google, Meta and Salesforce all conducted rounds of layoffs within the past year.

In one of the largest layoffs San Francisco saw in recent months, Meta sacked 21,000 employees as part of Mark Zuckerberg’s so-called “year of efficiency.”

Salesforce also axed some 7,000 staffers — 10% of its workforce — at the beginning of this year after rapid pandemic-era hiring left the company with “too many people” amid an economic slowdown.

And late last year, Elon Musk infamously slashed his staff at Twitter, now known as X, in half, handing nearly 4,000 workers pink slips.

World

Trump could meet Putin as early as next week to discuss Ukraine ceasefire – White House official

Published

1 hour ago

August 7, 2025

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Trump could meet Putin as early as next week to discuss Ukraine ceasefire - White House official

Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin in person as early as next week to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine, a White House official has said.

They said the meeting would be conditional on the Russian president meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reported.

It came days before the White House’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face severe economic penalties, which could also target countries buying its oil.

Ukraine war latest

Asked during a news conference at the White House if the talks would take place, Mr Trump said: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”

He said it had not been determined where the talks would take place, but added: “We had some very good talks with President Putin today.”

However, he said: “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.”

Asked if Mr Putin made any kind of concession to lead to the development, Mr Trump did not give much away, but added: “We’ve been working on this a long time. There are thousands of young people dying, mostly soldiers, but also, you know, missiles being hit into Kyiv and other places.”

Trump might finally be a step closer to ending the war

Seven hours is a long time in US politics.

At 10am, Donald Trump accused Russia of posing a threat to America’s national security.

At 5pm, Trump said there was a “good prospect” of him meeting Vladimir Putin “soon”.

There had, he claimed, been “great progress” in talks between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president.

It’s difficult to gauge the chances of a meeting between the two leaders without knowing what “great progress” means.

Is Russia “inclined” towards agreeing a ceasefire, as Ukraine’s president now claims?

Is Putin prepared to meet with his Ukrainian foe Volodymyr Zelenskyy, too?

The very fact that we’re asking those questions suggests something shifted on a day when there was no expectation of breakthrough.

Trump repeatedly vowed to end the war within 24 hours of becoming president.

On day 198 of his presidency, he might, just might, be one step closer to achieving that.

More tariffs ‘could happen’

Mr Trump also said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% he announced on India over its purchases of Russian oil.

“Could happen,” he said, after saying he expected to announce more secondary sanctions intended to pressure Russia into ending its war with Ukraine.

Earlier, he imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, on top of a previous 25% tariff, over its continued purchases of Russian oil.

India’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the additional tariffs were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

It came after Mr Putin held talks with Mr Trump‘s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, with the meeting lasting around three hours.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Mr Witkoff “had a highly productive meeting” with Mr Putin in which “great progress was made”.

He said he had updated America’s European allies, and they will work towards an end to the Russia-Ukraine war “in the days and weeks to come”.

‘The war must end’

Mr Zelenskyy later said he and Mr Trump spoke on the phone after the meeting. He said “European leaders also participated in the conversation” and “we discussed what was said in Moscow”.

He added: “Our common position with our partners is absolutely clear: The war must end. We all need lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it started.”

Mr Zelenskyy later said: “It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire.”

He added that the pressure on Moscow “is working”, without elaborating, and stressed it was important to make sure Russia does not “deceive us or the United States” when it comes to “the details” of a potential agreement.

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