July 09 Home Sales Trend in Bay Area

Sales hit 4 year high, Median price up

Data Quick reported that Bay Area home sales rose last month to the highest level for a July in four years as deals above $500,000 continued to accelerate. The median sale price climbed above the prior month for the fourth consecutive month.

San Jose Mercury News reported The median price of houses sold in Santa Clara County in July shot to $540,000 in July, the first time home prices have topped the half-million-dollar mark since this past fall, in a sign that buyers are purchasing not just bargain-priced post-foreclosure properties, but more expensive homes as well.

A total of 8,771 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 1.5 percent from 8,664 in June and up 15.6 percent from 7,586 in July 2008. The median price paid for a home in the nine-county region rose to $395,000, up 12.2 percent from $352,000 in June, but down 16.0 percent from $470,000 in July 2008, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.

The trend has been fueled this summer by several factors, including: More distress in high-end areas, leading to more motivated sellers; more buyers sensing a bottom could be near; and increased availability of larger home loans, which had become more expensive and far more difficult to obtain after the credit crunch hit two years ago.

In the San Francisco Bay Area and across California we continue to see the market moving gradually back toward a more normal balance of sales across all price ranges. The high end of the market finally has a pulse and that has led to a swift rise in the median sale price. Its the opposite of what we saw two years ago, when the credit crunch slammed the brakes on jumbo lending and sales of more expensive homes screeched to a halt. That triggered a near free-fall in the median sale price said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.

 

Source: MDA DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com