The Harrison | A Year In Review
The Harrison showed continuous growth in 2019, increasing both gross sales price point as well as price per foot. The building itself reached a maturity point in 2019, where the remaining inventory available to be purchased off the plan from developer is all but sold-out. Of the few remaining new homes available, the grand-daddy of them all Penthouse #48B is still looking for its first owner. This sprawling 3 bedroom penthouse with an open concept kitchen and living room spanning the entire bridge-facing side of the building is seeking $8,800,000.
It’s promising to see such a strong 2019 for two main reasons: original homeowners must have had many an anxious night with the duration it took to see their neighboring condos sell, only to have their fears settled this past year. Also, a concept that has worked in major cities around the globe - boutique design - has proven once again that buyers (eventually) value uniqueness.
The building was originally developed as Tower 2, an apartment (rental) building adjacent to One Rincon Hill. In 2013, when the tower was mostly complete, the project adjusted course and decided to re-zone as a condominium project and planned to sell units individually. Thus, The Harrison was born. It employed the services of San Francisco legend Ken Fulk to customize the interior of the building, creating a beautifully unique, arguably masculine, energy to common spaces and home interiors.
Sales began in late 2014/early 2015, taking almost 12 months longer to sell 200 fewer units than comparable building LUMINA just two blocks over. In 2019, The Harrison out-performed all surrounding buildings, increasing its resale price per square foot by $101 dollars, or just under a 6% spike from the previous year of sales. Couple this exceptional growth with growing evidence of a flattening real estate market and the picture becomes clearer: buyers value a home that matches their individual taste & unique spirit.
This trend starkly contrasts the advice most realtors give owners when thinking about updating a home before selling: stick to the current trends of the market, don’t remodel with your tastes in mind.
While both are true, it’s easy to argue that will pay more for something they love. The challenge: catering for a buyer pool large enough to effectively create competition and drive the price point of a sale higher.
12 sales in 2019 eclipsed the $2M price point, with two sales exceeding $3,000,000. What this high-end does is pull the median value, or average price per foot, upward. When realtors comp the building (some buyers representatives don’t comp the building’s original sales on tax records and focus the surrounding zip code, leading to potentially awful results), the average price per foot represented across the entire building is heavily weighted by the higher floors. The higher the $ per foot, the more money lower floor units tend to fetch upon their sale, too. Developers lead with their marque penthouses and notable residences, seeking monumental sales prices not only for their bottom line but for the value security all other homeowners will have upon these sales.
Of the 40 sales, 7 were original homeowners selling reselling their homes. These listings, on average, lasted 42 days on market - slightly lower than other local buildings in 2019, as well as the building as a whole.
Luckily, a phenomenon that happens in all new developments is equally present at the Harrison: the most desirable units tend to sell first (price, size, and orientation) leaving a wealth of buyers in the ecosystem waiting for these homes to hit the market on re-sale. 2 Bed, 2 bath homes with North-East, East, or South-East orientations will sell exceptionally well, as buyers from all over the Bay Area who missed out are in waiting. This also explains the 6% year over year growth. There are buyers out there willing to pay a premium for a desirable Harrison home.