According to a Global Insight study, the San Francisco real estate market is overvalued by approximately 36% (up from 30% at the beginning of the year). As such, San Francisco is considered to be “extremely overvalued”. What’s that mean?

“Study findings indicate that 53 metropolitan areas, representing 31 percent of the total value of the US housing market, “are extremely overvalued” and face a high risk of price correction. To be considered “extremely overvalued,” markets had to have current prices exceeding the expected price by 30 percent or more, a threshold that was determined from the median degree of overvaluation that preceded 63 known local price drops over the past 20 years.”

So if you’re planning on making a 10% down payment, imagine losing 300% of your investment. Yes, the dark underbelly of “leverage” that most agents never talk about; you can lose more than you invest. Much more.
Overvalued Housing Market? Depends Where You Live [Global Insight]