This post first appeared in the March edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities.

San Francisco Building Owners Sell Winners, Keep Sinners
(San Francisco Business Times)
There’s an old saying on Wall Street that you shouldn’t sell your winners to finance your sinners. Landlords in San Francisco, apparently, didn’t get the message. 303 Second St., just blocks from the freshly constructed One Rincon Tower, was just listed and is expected to fetch north of $200 million. Along with another new listing at 333 Market St., which is a few blocks from the Embarcadero and 100% leased to Wells Fargo, the activity supports the view that building owners are looking to raise capital by selling strong performing assets. SF landlords are likely hoping they don’t end up like former brokerages like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, which shed high quality assets to stave off a cash crunch. Oops.

(Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/ciriostrendsmar1)

Bay Area Home Sales Slip in January
(San Francisco Chronicle)
It’s not unusual for home sales to fall from December to January; the holidays are a notoriously sleepy time in the housing market. But this January was abnormally slow, as transactions in the Bay Area fell 4% from a year ago, marking the first year-over-year drop in sales in 17 months. Some chalked up the slowdown to the dearth of listings on the market, while others raised the possibility of a hiccup in the housing market’s recent strength. At least within the San Francisco city limits, we at Cirios have noticed a meaningful pickup in new listings in the past month (supported by the data presented on the first page). Opportunistic buyers should be licking their chops, but, as always, picking their spots.

(Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/ciriostrendsmar2)

Hotels Slash Prices to Keep Occupancy Up
(San Francisco Business Times)
Sure, you’re broke, but it’s never been a better time to visit San Francisco. Hotels, smarting from an excessively weak tourism market, are slashing rates to keep their rooms full. Northern California as a whole saw room rates slip 13.2% from last year, while San Francisco’s decline approached 16%. Meanwhile, occupancy in San Francisco held relatively steady, off only 4.3% from 2009. Contrast this with apartment buildings, where landlords let units sit vacant rather than dropping rents. This is especially true in San Francisco, where tenant-friendly rent control laws means it can take years for landlords to recoup lost rental income.

(Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/ciriostrendsmar3)

Santa Clara Residents Undecided on 49ers Fate
(San Jose Business Journal)
Less than a month after the Santa Clara city council paved the way for a June vote on a nearly $1 billion stadium for the San Francisco 49ers, voters aren’t so sure. In a recent poll, Santa Clara voters are split right down the middle on the subject, with 45% favoring the plans and an equal portion opposed. This contrasts another poll done last month which shows just 40% of Santa Clara voters in favor of the stadium, with 54% opposed. San Francisco is still holding out hope that they’ll get a shot at keeping the team, but only time, and votes, will tell.

(Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/ciriostrendsmar4 )