Coming off a furious 2021, the luxury home market slowed considerably during the last year, with the San Francisco residential market emerging one of the most impacted by a perfect storm of rising interest rates, a fluctuating stock market and substantial layoffs by some of the biggest corporations in tech.
In the Bay Area, luxury home sales — defined as those priced over $5 million—were hit even harder than the rest of the market, with a 43 percent drop year over year, compared with 37 percent for the general market, according to Compass data. Ultra-luxury homes, those priced over $10 million, have more than 11 months of inventory throughout the Bay Area. In San Francisco, there are 17 months of inventory in that price range.
Compass data shows that in the $3-million-plus sector, sales volume dropped by more than half in November, compared to the same month a year earlier.
Despite the overall declining market, San Francisco still saw some substantial and starry sales at top price points.
The three sales that closed around $30 million all had big names attached: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire Glazer development family and former secretary of state George Shultz. The Zuckerberg and Glazer sales both took place off market, while the buyer for the late secretary of state’s two penthouses is still unknown.
Here’s what we do know about these sales and the rest of this year’s top deals.
2790 Broadway $34.5M
In late July, TRD broke the news that the billionaire Glazer real estate family, which also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and soccer club Manchester United, bought the Gold Coast mansion that would turn out to be San Francisco’s priciest sale of the year.
An entity called Sprinkle Wonderland LLC closed on the home at 2790 Broadway for $34.5 million in an off-market deal, property records show. The LLC shares a Rochester address with Glazer Properties, a nationwide shopping center development company founded by Kevin Glazer, son of the late Malcolm Glazer, the founder of First Allied Corporation.
The new owner paid $2,840 per square foot for the 12,150-square-foot 1920s home, which was bought from the estate of renowned art collectors Norah and Norman Stone. The view home with a Beaux Arts-style red brick and limestone facade is located just blocks from the Broadway entrance to the Presidio and the Lyon Street steps.
3450 21st Street $31M
Just before the Glazer sale, TRD broke the story of the off-market sale of Zuckerberg’s long-time home in the Mission Dolores neighborhood, the only top transaction to take place outside the city’s northern half.
The buyer was 3450 21st Street LLC, according to the deed, which is based in Delaware, a common choice for owners who want their identities to remain private. The home is listed on Redfin as a four-bedroom, four-bath with nearly 7,400 square feet, but 2014-2015 permits filed with the city’s Department of Building Inspection show that Zuckerberg completed work to add space on the first, second and third floors, and legalize space on the top floor of the four-floor home, as well as adding a bathroom and creating a roof deck. So it’s unclear if more finished square footage has been added, which would bring down the price per square foot from $4,200.
If the psf number is accurate, it is the highest paid for any of the houses in this year’s top 10, though some condos in One Steuart Lane on the Embarcadero have reported prices closer to $4,500 per square foot this year.
999 Green Street, 3201 and 3202 $29M
Though they technically closed as two separate units for $17 million and $12 million, the neighboring penthouses formerly owned by Shultz and his wife Charlotte Mailliard Shultz, who both died in 2021, were purchased by the same buyer and are considered one sale. Together, the July all-cash sale broke the record for highest price paid for a condo in the city, held since 2011 by the 20,000-square-foot penthouse at the St. Regis that sold for $28 million.
The buyer was identified in the property records as SGS 3201 LLC and SGS 3202 LLC, which has a Florida address in Palm Beach Gardens. The buyers, whom their agent Gregg Lynn of Sotheby’s International Realty described as “empty nesters,” paid the asking price of $3,100 per square foot for the over-5,000-square-foot, three-bedroom, 4.5-bath north penthouse and nearly $2,500 a square foot for the 4,900-square-foot three-bedroom, four-bath south unit at the top of the Joseph Eichler-designed Summit highrise.
Listing agent Karen Mendelsohn Gould of Compass told TRD that the penthouses had three offers, with most buyers primarily interested in the views, space and Russian Hill location. She called the units’ notable former owners “the special rose on the top of the cake — or the cherry on top of the sundae — it’s exceptional without, but that is just what makes it go over.”
3636 Clay Street $19.2M
After the three big summer sales, there was a lull of several months before another $15-million-plus sale in the city. Then, in October, TRD reported the $19.2 million sale of Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield’s Presidio Heights Victorian, which closed for about $2,400 per square foot after listing just one month earlier. Butterfield and his wife, Away CEO Jen Rubio, had only owned the home since 2019 but relocated to Colorado during the pandemic.
The buyer is an LLC called Clay Street Holdings, which paid $600,000 below the $19.8 million asking price in what appears to have been an all-cash deal. Sotheby’s International Realty agent Neil Bassi had the seven-bedroom, 8,000-square-foot listing and did not reply to a request for comment.
2006 Washington Street #2 $19M
In the most recent sale to make the 2022 list, a 7,800-square-foot four-bedroom with two dressing rooms, a conservatory, lower-level ballroom, private entrance and view terraces sold for about $2,400 per square foot at the end of November. Despite the lavish amenities, the 8,000-square-foot home, which sold for $19 million, wasn’t a Pac Heights mansion. Instead, it was a two-floor co-op on the northeast corner of Lafayette Park and the biggest non-single-family residential sale this year outside of the combined Shultz sales.
Gregg Lynn of Sotheby’s International Realty represented the seller and Mary Lou Castellanos, also from Sotheby’s, represented the buyer. Neither one was available for comment.
Best of the Rest
The rest of the top 10 sold for between $15 million and $17.6 million; the higher figure was the price VC firm Greenoaks Capital paid for a Pacific Heights mansion in June. Other notable sales included singer Linda Ronstadt’s former home, which sold for $16.5 million in March, and Zynga co-founder Marc Pincus’ former home, which was advertised as “shovel-ready” when it sold in October to a hardwood flooring importer for $17 million.
As always, there could be another high-end sale that sneaks in before 2022 is out. Last year, the second-biggest sale of the year, a 12,000-square-foot Cow Hollow spec home with a lap pool, closed on Dec. 31 for $32 million.
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