There were almost too many local, national and international political, economic, social, and ecological factors impacting the 2018 market to count. In the first half of the year, market conditions were very hot, and there were strong year-over-year appreciation rates.

 

Come summer/early autumn, real estate and financial markets began to shift distinctly cooler. Looking at 2019, there are many wild cards whose impacts are difficult to predict: extremely volatile financial markets, fluctuating interest rates, contentious national politics, international trade issues, spiraling debt levels, employment growth - and a dramatic surge of local high-tech unicorns that plan to go public, which could create a tsunami of new wealth in the Bay Area.