GreenBungalows Gazette: March 2026

Spring is in the Air!

Happy Spring! After a week of summer weather, East Bay gardens are now well in advance of the normal spring pattern. My garden is now fully in bloom with roses, and wisteria and bluebells that usually begin to appear towards the end of March or April. And a Monet image you can now enjoy as part of the Monet and Venice exhibition.

Inventory down, median prices up!

The 2026 real estate market is also warming up as it usually does by March, but unlike the weather, our market is noticeably less active than last year. In the key East Bay cities that I service—Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Kensington, Oakland and Piedmont—sales are down considerably since the beginning of the year, with a total of 360 this year vs. 920 for the same period last year. That’s a big drop! The decline in most cities was between half to one-third of last year’s inventory. And it’s a bit counter-intuitive as interest rates are slightly lower. But we all know that economic uncertainty has increased even beyond what we experienced last year, with the true financial impact of the most recent wars yet to be fully experienced.

With such constraints on inventory, it’s not surprising that prices have generally increased. Excluding Piedmont (which actually showed a drop in median price from $3.1M to $3M), the remaining cities combined showed a median price increase from $977.5K to $1.15M. If I remove condos and look only at single family homes, the median price so far this year is $1.3M. And we all know that’s a challenging number, especially for first-time home buyers.

There is some good news:

This year interest rates are slightly more favorable than last, with average mortgage rates around 6.25%, with rates having briefly dipped just below 6%. Another change that is encouraging to buyers as well as current home owners: insurance is getting somewhat easier to obtain, and at slightly lower premiums than a year ago, thanks to more carriers entering the California market.

I was especially pleased to be able to obtain a quote at a substantial improvement for one of my current multi-unit listings, cutting their insurance premiums in half from their current expense! You may want to check with a good insurance broker, someone who has access to numerous carriers, to see if you might be able to reduce your premiums, or ideally improve your coverage as well. Reach out if you would like contact information for the insurance brokers I have found to be very helpful.

Hoping that upcoming celebrations of spring rituals, whether Easter, Passover or your own festival of flowers, are happy ones!

Arlene

Left: The Rose Walk Complex, a 9-plex I’ve listed above Euclid Avenue in North Berkeley where the one vacant unit, 2523 Rose Walk, will be open on a Twilight tour, March 26, 4:30-6:30 pm. Right: the vacant unit of the Rose Walk Complex is in the duplex at the far right, on the ground level. This landmarked complex, including 9 garages is offered at $6.395M

It’s rare enough for one architecturally distinctive multi-unit property to be available for sale in the highly desirable North Berkeley market, but two exceptional complexes are currently available. And I am deeply honored to be representing both of them! Perhaps some of you saw the announcement that appeared a couple of weeks ago in the San Francisco Chronicle as well as online at SFGate, with descriptions and photos of both of these architect-designed multi-units. I would love to welcome you Thursday evening, March 26th from 4:30 -6:30 to the one vacant unit in the complex designed by Henry Gutterson, nestled along the shared garden and public path Rose Walk, designed by Bernard Maybeck. There are four duplexes completed in 1936, a separate cottage with a spacious private deck, the first structure of the complex from 1925, plus nine garages adjoining Codornices Road on a 20K sq. ft. lot. 2501-2527 Rose Walk is truly a remarkable property! I was pleased to sell this complex three years ago, and am again looking for just the right buyer for this special property.

This second complex at 1739 – 1759 Spruce is one that I both listed and sold to the current owner in 1999. These three duplexes sited around a central garden are very spacious, and live like single family homes. They have the advantage of all being vacant as of June 1, making it a very attractive option for groups, extended families, or organizations that wish to owner-occupy, or choose their own tenants. One unit is currently available to view in each duplex. SpruceSixPlex.com Offered at $6.8M

The Good News Department!

Each month I will share something positive that uplifted my spirits, and I hope will raise yours as well.

This month’s bit of good news involves biodiversity, creative reuse, and a positive reaction to climate change. It’s about a three year experiment using life-supporting tiles, which represent the first stage of an ambitious pending rebuild of San Francisco’s centenarian seawall that puts marine life first. Once lifeless, the textured gray tiles are now covered in festive streamers of red-tinged Turkish towel and rainbow seaweed, hard nubbins of oysters and limpets, and scampering crabs. The idea behind the Living Seawall pilot is simple: Enhance the natural biodiversity of the San Francisco Bay along the waterfront — and strengthen its resilience against climate change. These life-supporting tiles underscore the interconnectedness of marine ecosystems — both natural and built. While providing habitable surfaces on the Bay’s seawalls and piers won’t cause the threat of rising sea levels to evaporate, it will help ameliorate the negative impacts that the original infrastructure has had on native oyster, limpet and seaweed populations. You can read the entire article by clicking on the photo. I hope you will—it certainly made me smile!

Photo credit: Arianna Cunha / Port of San Francisco

An inspiring exhibition: Monet and Venice

Now at the De Young Museum in San Francisco through July 26, this is an inspiring exhibition that transported me to Venice for an evening in a surprising collection of images, most of which were from one visit that Monet made to that magical city in the autumn of 1908. The image on the left was surprisingly pointillist in style, and a favorite of mine. There are multiple images of the same subject, many along the Grand Canal such as the painting on the right of Santa Maria della Salute, some captured from a gondola that he would hire to stay in the same spot for hours. In addition to the primary subject matter, visitors are also treated to a few of the water lily paintings, including one normally in Dede Wilsey’s own collection, and an especially wonderful one. The website has some very enjoyable further information as well. This is an exhibition I will want to return to!