Finance & economics | Walking on air

Why house prices have risen once again

Across the rich world, they have brushed off higher rates. Can that last?

Alamo Square in San Franciso
Photograph: Jim Wilson/New York Times/Redux/Eyevine
|San Francisco

In parts of San Francisco, the housing market is in dire straits. Consider the example of one swish apartment close to City Hall, with quartz countertops and a rooftop deck, which in 2019 sold for $1.25m. Not today. After the chaos of the covid-19 pandemic, City Hall now overlooks the locus of the city’s drug problems. Biblical scenes of lawlessness and human suffering play out every night. The flat is now listed for $769,000—and has yet to sell.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Walking on air”

From the November 25th 2023 edition

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