The Bay Area's spring home-buying season had one of its best starts since the housing crisis.
April home sales in the Bay Area increased 13.5 percent from March totals and 2.4 percent from April 2014 sales. The 7,778 new and existing houses and condominiums sold in the region's nine counties is the second highest April total since 2006, only trailing April 2013, when 7,801 homes sold.
"April sales in the Bay Area were some of the highest we've seen for the month since the housing downturn, though they were still below average," said Andrew LePage, an analyst with CoreLogic, the real estate information service. "Many would-be buyers continue to be challenged by lingering credit hurdles, tight inventories of homes for sale and, of course, the drop in affordability over the past few years."
CoreLogic also reported that the median April price for Bay Area homes sold was $657,000, the highest since June and July 2007, when the median hit an all-time high of $665,000. In Santa Clara County, the median price grew to $800,250, and it increased elsewhere, too: $1,024,000 in San Mateo County, $640,000 in Alameda County and $480,500 in Contra Costa County.
"Prices aren't rising as fast as they were a year or two ago," LePage said, "but the median sale price has already reached record levels in some coastal counties."
By contrast, he pointed out that "in many inland areas, prices remain significantly below all-time highs, but they're also up sharply from their housing-bust lows.
"Home shoppers are no doubt hoping for a big boost in inventory, which would increase competition among sellers and slow the pace of price appreciation," LePage added.
Source: San Jose Mercury News, Richard Scheinin
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_28162254/home-sales-prices-jump-across-bay-area-at
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