Selling $2M over the list price

A property in San Francisco just sold two million dollars over the asking price, and it’s been getting viral attention. I thought it would be fun to dig into this one and highlight some stunning stats. Let’s compare Sacramento pricing vibes to the Bay Area also since agents can make some big mistakes when taking listings in the other area.

UPCOMING SPEAKING GIGS:

3/19/26 Yolo YPN event
3/25/26 Coldwell Banker EDH
4/9/26 Realtist Association of Sacramento
4/14/26 Culbertson & Gray
4/22/26 EDCAR
4/28/26 PCAR Rocklin
5/7/26 Empire State of Mind
5/15/26 Nevada County TBA
6/3/26 Wisdom Wednesday in Elk Grove
8/6/26 PCAR Auburn
10/2/26 PCAR Rocklin

GOING TWO MILLION OVER ASKING PRICE

This property on 12th Avenue is getting viral attention since it sold just about $2M over the asking price. I’ll let locals digest whether the price tag was above value or not. I’m only going to focus on it selling $2M above. 

SAN FRANCISCO PRICING IS A DIFFERENT ANIMAL

In some portions of the Bay Area, properties are priced strategically low to generate quick interest, and that’s true in San Francisco (I’ll share other Bay Area counties below). Over 90% of sales so far in March 2026 have sold ABOVE the original list price, and when properties sold above, they went 20% above on average. Homes have sold in an average of 11 days too, so it’s lighting speed time. In short, this is a market where almost everything is priced low on purpose. I realize there is an AI tech boom happening right now, but pricing strategically low has been a vibe for many years beyond just recent time. For context, check out how different Sacramento is compared to San Francisco. 

HOW COMMON IS IT TO SELL $2M ABOVE?

Selling $2M above doesn’t happen very often, and so far in 2026, this is basically flirting with a few other examples at the same level. The average above in March 2026 has been $474,774. 

Let’s look at it from a percentage standpoint too. This property on 12th Avenue sold about 65% above the original price, and that’s definitely on the higher side of the range, but there was one property at just over 90%. 

LOOKING AT THE ENTIRE BAY AREA

And when looking at the entire Bay Area in March so far, this one on 12th is definitely toward the top of the range in going for about $2M more, but it’s not at the very top of the total percentage above asking price (but at the % top for the price point). 

NOT ALL PARTS OF THE BAY AREA ARE THE SAME

We often hear about aggressive pricing in the Bay Area, but not all counties have that pricing strategy. For instance, here’s a visual to show the sales price to original list price ratio, and the most aggressive counties are San Francisco, Alameda, and Santa Clara. In case you’re not familiar with this metric, 115% in February 2026 in San Francisco means when looking at every sale in the market, the average was going 15% above the original list price. In contrast, there are other Bay Area counties that sell much below the original price on average (more similar to Sacramento). 

Thank you Matt Castillo for helping me with Alameda and Contra Costa stats since I don’t have access to those counties for Trendgraphix. 

SACRAMENTO DOES NOT FIT IN HERE

When looking at the three most aggressive Bay Area counties, Sacramento simply does not fit in. The highest percentage ever in Sacramento was 105% in early 2021, and that was because the market was going absolutely crazy at the time. But 105% is an everyday stat in these other counties due to pricing strategically low. Just remember that going so far above is not just due to the market in these counties because there is a different pricing strategy at hand.  

SOME PORTIONS OF THE BAY AREA ARE SIMILAR TO SAC

Some parts of the Bay Area have a pretty similar pricing strategy compared to Sacramento. Solano in particular has similar vibes. 

DEEPER DIVE INTO SACRAMENTO

Here’s what the Sacramento region looks like with four counties, and then a visual with ten counties that looks like total chaos. 

DEAR AGENTS & BUYERS

The pricing strategy is not the same in Sacramento and some of the Bay Area, so be sure to look at the comps to understand pricing strategy and market expectations if you end up taking a listing in the other area. Can you imagine imposing a Bay Area or Sacramento pricing strategy if the market expects something else? In Sacramento, properties are generally priced much closer to market value (though there are some examples of lower pricing too). On that note, when Bay Area buyers purchase in Sacramento, watch the comps because you may not be having to pay way over the asking price like you would in Alameda or San Francisco, for instance. When properties are underpriced here, they tend to be maybe 5-10%. I talked about an example recently of a home getting 94 offers, but even in that case, it only sold 40% over the asking price. 

SELLING WITHIN TWO WEEKS IN SAN FRANCISCO

In the Bay Area, it’s very common to see offers within two weeks, but when stuff gets bid up in Sacramento, it’s more like the first week or so. In San Francisco, it’s almost like two weeks is the deadline for receiving offers, but that’s not how it works in Sacramento. The average days on market has been only 11 days in March 2026 in San Francisco compared with 46 days in the Sacramento region. 

Anyway, I hope that was helpful. Thanks for being here. 

Questions: Which pricing strategy do you prefer? Which strategy can get the best results for a seller? Anything to add?

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