First American Real Estate Solutions' Report Reveals San Francisco Homeowners Hold Over $38 Billion in Equity

October 25, 2006


The First American Corporation

SANTA ANA, Calif., -- First American Real Estate Solutions (RES(R)), released its latest regional equity report, which identifies more than $38 billion of available equity among San Francisco homeowners and identifies how the presence of equity can be used as a key indicator for targeted marketing.

The report, entitled "Equity by the Bay," is authored by Christopher Cagan, Ph.D., director of research and analytics at First American Real Estate Solutions, and examines 87,000 single-family residences and condominiums in the city of San Francisco and San Francisco County. San Francisco is one of the highest-priced housing markets in the nation with a median sale price of $790,000 for single-family residences and $740,000 for condominiums, or more than triple the national median of $225,000 for single-family homes and condominiums together. The report indicates that the $38 billion in equity represents 48 percent of the total market value of almost $79 billion, and that even those homeowners who purchased or refinanced during the first half of 2006 hold an average of 23 percent equity.

"During the last few years, appreciation in San Francisco has ranged from as high as 15 to 20 percent per year, which has resulted in the area's homeowners holding substantial equity that, if tapped, could provide them with significant buying power," said Teresa Grove, vice president of marketing for First American Real Estate Solutions. Sophisticated marketers have discovered that property-centric factors, such as home equity, home value and property characteristics, are highly effective for analyzing consumers' lifestyles, identifying optimal retail locations and more precisely targeting existing and potential customers for traditional marketing efforts. Demand for property information is also rapidly increasing among Web marketers who use property information services, such as real estate trends and property valuation services, to attract visitors to their Web sites for lead generation and ecommerce programs. First American RES owns the nation's largest database of property, transaction and mortgage information. Through the use of advanced analytics, RES is able to identify homeowners who hold equity in specific markets down to the address level. These and other methodologies can be applied to client files to carry out refined analysis and identify optimum targets for direct marketing. For a copy of the "Equity by the Bay" report, visit http://www.firstamres.com.


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