San Francisco Real Estate Info

So how is the San Francisco economy shaping up? It seems so fragile and uneven — mirroring the economy nationwide.

The short answer: It’s a mixed bag.

Ted Egan, San Francisco’s chief economist, gave a presentation Tuesday at a San Francisco Chamber event and summed up how the city and nation are doing.

Here are the highlights:

On the troubling side, Egan said, “A worrying sign continues to be housing. I can’t say where we’re at in terms of the housing market right now.” So it’s not at all clear when home prices will finally start a steady increase, which would bolster consumer confidence.

On national employment, Egan said, “We’re not seeing sustainable job growth.” Indeed employment has been flat for three months now after rebounding late last year.

Still, Egan found reason for optimism for San Francisco.

Despite the city’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate, it is in better shape than every other major city in the state. Oakland has a 17.7 percent unemployment rate and San Jose has 12.6 percent unemployment.

San Francisco has been resilient, Egan said, because of several different areas of job growth despite the downturn.

Consider: Between the second quarter of 2008 and the fourth quarter of 2009, the following job categories have grown more than 20 percent: software, internet publishing, intellectual property transactions, directory publishers, translation services and performing arts promotion and management.

Meanwhile, venture capital investments, the fuel behind most San Francisco startups, has returned to pre-recession levels of almost $3 billion spent in the second quarter, Egan said.

“It’s only a matter of time before these economic engines restore the overall regional economy to health,” according to Egan.

The question no one can answer yet, however, is how long that will take.