The “Facebook IPO Effect” and the Silicon Valley Housing Market
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I am the author of this blog and also a top-producing Loan Officer and CEO of InstaMortgage Inc, the fastest-growing mortgage company in America. All the advice is based on my experience of helping thousands of homebuyers and homeowners. We are a mortgage company and will help you with all your mortgage needs. Unlike lead generation websites, we do not sell your information to multiple lenders or third-party companies.
As soon as Facebook announced its pending IPO, many Realtors and mortgage professionals in the Silicon Valley were anticipating the ripple effect into the local housing market. Potential home buyers are worried that perhaps home prices will rise with all this new found wealth flooding the market. The dilemma is that consistently low inventory available on the Peninsula is putting pressure on housing prices. The folks at Altos Research, a Mountain View real estate data analytics company, wrote a compelling, and stats filled post on the true reach of the “Facebook Effect” on housing.
For all the hype about housing prices rising due to the pending Facebook IPO, there are local Realtors who have their own experiences and thoughts. Siobhan O-Sullivan, a Realtor with Drey fuss Properties in Menlo Park says, Inventory here in the Bay Area has always been tight, so much demand, so few available properties to choose from. One of the problems with all of this Facebook talk is that we are finding many ‘real’ sellers are talking about “holding off” and waiting for the IPO to happen before they put their homes on the market. This mindset is certainly not helping our stock of available housing for sale and the buyers are frustrated because there is so little to choose from.
O-Sullivan has observed that homes are selling fast and with multiple offers – an indication that sellers are getting their homes sold for close to and in many cases, well over their list prices. No one has a crystal ball and we can only really speak to the right now. We have pent up buyer demand and interest rates at an all-time low. If sellers are waiting, will there be a glut of homes available all around the same time? With more homes to choose from, and more choices for buyers, this means less for sellers. I advise sellers to get their homes on the market now when they have more buyers.
San Bruno Realtor, Karin Cunningham, Prudential California Realty, says, It doesn’t seem like there has been any effect at all on the North Peninsula housing market. True, the inventory is low and slowly getting lower. There are more investors and house flippers and the banks are selling, but that’s about it.”
The proof will be in the pudding, as they say, when the stocks are cashed in.
What are you hearing in the market regarding the Facebook IPO effect on housing?
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