San Francisco Bay Area Home Prices Dip Below $300,000 (Update1)
By Daniel Taub
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- The median home price in San Francisco Bay Area last month dropped below $300,000 for the first time in almost a decade, spurring an increase in sales, MDA DataQuick said today.
The median price fell to $295,000, down a record 46 percent from $548,000 a year earlier and reaching the lowest level since 1999, the San Diego-based real estate research company said in a statement. A total of 5,032 new and existing houses and condominiums sold last month in the nine-county region, up 26 percent from a year earlier.
Northern California prices are being driven down by a rise in foreclosures, with properties in default typically selling at a discount. Stricter lending standards for more expensive properties are affecting the market as well, MDA DataQuick said. Less than 18 percent of Bay Area homes were purchased with loans of more than $417,000 last month, down from 62 percent before credit tightening began in August 2007.
“A lot of Bay Area activity is basically on hold, waiting for the jumbo-mortgage spigot to reopen,” MDA DataQuick President John Walsh said in the statement.
Prices fell in all nine Northern California counties. The biggest drop was in Contra Costa County, where the median fell 52 percent to $216,500. More than 65 percent of all previously owned homes sold in Contra Costa last month had been foreclosed upon at some point in the past year.
Southern California Prices
For the nine-county region, foreclosures accounted for 52 percent of February resales, up from 22 percent a year earlier.
MDA DataQuick is a unit of Richmond, British Columbia-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. It compiles surveys using county records and supplies real estate information to customers including public agencies, lenders and title companies.
In Southern California, house and condominium sales increased 41 percent in February as buyers took advantage of prices that fell 39 percent from a year earlier, MDA DataQuick said earlier this week. The median home price in the six-county region fell to $250,000 from $408,000 a year earlier.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...Vdo&refer=home
By Daniel Taub
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- The median home price in San Francisco Bay Area last month dropped below $300,000 for the first time in almost a decade, spurring an increase in sales, MDA DataQuick said today.
The median price fell to $295,000, down a record 46 percent from $548,000 a year earlier and reaching the lowest level since 1999, the San Diego-based real estate research company said in a statement. A total of 5,032 new and existing houses and condominiums sold last month in the nine-county region, up 26 percent from a year earlier.
Northern California prices are being driven down by a rise in foreclosures, with properties in default typically selling at a discount. Stricter lending standards for more expensive properties are affecting the market as well, MDA DataQuick said. Less than 18 percent of Bay Area homes were purchased with loans of more than $417,000 last month, down from 62 percent before credit tightening began in August 2007.
“A lot of Bay Area activity is basically on hold, waiting for the jumbo-mortgage spigot to reopen,” MDA DataQuick President John Walsh said in the statement.
Prices fell in all nine Northern California counties. The biggest drop was in Contra Costa County, where the median fell 52 percent to $216,500. More than 65 percent of all previously owned homes sold in Contra Costa last month had been foreclosed upon at some point in the past year.
Southern California Prices
For the nine-county region, foreclosures accounted for 52 percent of February resales, up from 22 percent a year earlier.
MDA DataQuick is a unit of Richmond, British Columbia-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. It compiles surveys using county records and supplies real estate information to customers including public agencies, lenders and title companies.
In Southern California, house and condominium sales increased 41 percent in February as buyers took advantage of prices that fell 39 percent from a year earlier, MDA DataQuick said earlier this week. The median home price in the six-county region fell to $250,000 from $408,000 a year earlier.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...Vdo&refer=home
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