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By Bay City News Service
Bay Area home sales in June jumped to their highest level in almost three years because of the perception among home buyers that prices have bottomed out, according to an organization that monitors real estate data.
A total of 8,644 new and resale houses and condominiums were sold in the nine Bay Area counties in June, up 16.1 percent from May, and 20.4 percent from a year ago, according to MDA DataQuick, a San Diego-based real estate information service.
The median price for a home in the Bay Area also increased slightly in the past month, up 3.1 percent from $341,500 to $352,000. However, that median is just more than half of the peak of $665,000 reached in June 2007.
“Getting mortgage financing this last year has really been an egregious process, especially in the upper half of the market,” John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president, said in a statement.
“We’re just now seeing the beginnings of more normal mortgage lending patterns. There’s still a long way to go, but it looks like the worst of the grind is over,” Walsh said.
Marin County had the highest median home price in the Bay Area at $710,000, while Solano County had the lowest at $185,000.
And property tax revenue in Atherton and Menlo keep going up!! Thank goodness we live and work in such an affluent city/town.
Only 622 properties sold in all of San Mateo County with a median of $565k, so you can tell that only foreclosures and the really low end are really selling. It’s not like you can buy ANYTHING in Menlo/Atherton for that median or less. If the Almanac is going to publish this kind of stuff, at least focus on the segment relevant to readers.
The median rising or falling is fairly meaningless. It’s more reflective of the mix of high/low end properties being sold one month to the next.
And according to dqnews, only 22 properties sold in Menlo Park in May at a median of $817k, compared to last May’s $1.2 million, a 32% drop.
I’m sure the June numbers will show the traditional spring bump, but right now there are 150 places for sale in MP over $800k and only 46 under (mostly East Menlo or condos). That means there is about 7 months of inventory in the mid-high end, and only 2-3 months in the very low end.
It gets even worse. There are 15 months of inventory in the $1.5m and up range in MP. (About 5 selling per month, 69 currently available.) Tough competition unless sellers drop their price A LOT. Sorry, but MP isn’t the only town with good schools.
The median prices are virtually meaningless. There ought to be a better way to get data on the housing market.
Become a real estate agent, and if you can’t afford the new Jaguar convertible, prices are stagnant.
Have you EVER seen a county like ours with so many realtors? Only in the Hamptons maybe, BUT, nothing is selling on the high end there either.
Still, the New York rich are beginning to go to Le Cirque and to hell with the downtrodden.