This February, the volume of Bay Area home and condo sales increased by 12.9 percent from January. Despite this surge, year-over-year sales volume remains down by 12.8 percent from this time last year as both buyers and sellers are waiting to see how an onslaught of initial public offerings (IPOs) will impact the real estate market.
It is estimated that 180 companies will go public on U.S. exchanges in 2019 with a total of $60 billion raised. This not only includes the newly public Levi Strauss and Lyft, but also likely IPO candidates Uber, Pinterest, Slack and Postmates, all based in San Francisco, and Zoom, which is based in nearby San Jose.
So, how will this surge of new IPOs effect Bay Area real estate? And, more importantly, how should potential buyers and sellers react to these changes? The San Francisco Chronicle recently spoke with Delegate Advisors Managing Partner Andy Hart to answer these crucial questions.
In the article, Hart says that he believes there will be “a scramble for homes” in San Francisco and surrounding counties for properties ranging from $1 million to $4 million. Despite this surge, he cautions clients not to buy homes based on how much they think their new stock is worth before the end of the lockup period, which typically lasts six months and prohibits people who invested in the company before it went public from selling shares.
“I’ve seen that rodeo before, when people thought they had a certain amount of money and then they didn’t,” explains Hart. As a result, he advises them “to be patient.”