Bay Area Home Sales Ease Back; Median Sale Price Edges Higher

DQ News

From the article:

La Jolla, CA.--The Bay Area housing market continued its fits-and-starts march toward normalcy last month with ho-hum sales counts and continued price appreciation. Various below-the-surface technical indicators show a market still transitioning from a severely atypical state a few years ago to something more in line with long-term norms, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 7,595 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area in October. That was up 6.4 percent from 7,141 the month before, and down 3.9 percent from 7,902 for October a year ago, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last month’s number was 11.2 percent below the October average of 8,553 since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. Bay Area sales haven’t been above average for any particular month in more than seven years. The most active October was in 2003 when 13,392 homes sold; the least active was in 2007 with 5,486 sales.

The median price paid for a home in the Bay Area last month was $539,750. That was up 1.8 percent from $530,000 in September, and up 29.7 percent from $416,000 in October 2012. 

Read more