Even with inventory (listings) down compared with the same period last year, buyer demand drove an increase in the number of homes sold in Q1 in all our regions. If this trend continues, the total number of homes sold this year could reach 20,850 – and exceed the 10-year average in the Bay Area for the first time since 2005.

While the number of homes changing hands is jumping, price levels overall, on average, are down 1%.  The first quarter report from Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate shows San Francisco and Napa’s median price increasing by 4% and 7%, while Alameda’s median dropped by 10% compared to the first quarter of 2011.  Slim pickings are sparking multiple offers with quality homes in favored locations as inventory is down by more than half compared to last year.

As of the final day of the first quarter, 7,703 existing detached homes were listed for sale across the entire Bay Area, down a staggering 54 percent from 16,669 homes on the market on the same date a year ago.

Even with the lack of homes on the market, it looks like buyers are out of the gates.  In my local Marin neighborhood, newly listed homes that had a hard time selling a year or two ago, where they lingered for over 100+ days and were finally pulled, are getting snatched up within 2-3 weeks.  With the traditional buying season just beginning and the Facebook IPO on its way, this sets the stage for an interesting summer.

Courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/05/04/bay-area-home-sales-off-to-best-start-since-2005/

A total of 6,988 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 2.9% from 6,789 in April but down 15.4% from 8,264 in May 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.. Last month’s year-over-year drop was the sharpest since sales fell 22.8% last October.

On average, Bay Area sales have risen 6.6% – about double last month’s gain – between April and May since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

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Last month’s sales were the lowest for the month of May since 2008, when 6,216 homes sold, and the third-lowest on record, behind May 1995 and 2008. May sales have ranged from a low of 6,216 in 2008 to a high of 13,567 in 2004, while the average is 9,693. Last month’s sales fell 27.9% below the May average.

Builders sold 370 newly built homes last month in the Bay Area, down 47.1% from a year earlier and the lowest number for a May since at least 1988. Builders have struggled with the weak economy and competition from the resale market, especially distressed properties.

“Given the sluggish start to this spring’s home-buying season, with sales 20 to 30% below average, it’s no surprise we’re logging sharper declines from 2010. Sales got a big shot in the arm a year ago, when people rushed to take advantage of expiring homebuyer tax credits. Today the market must stand on its own, and it’s having a hard time doing that in the absence of stronger job growth and consumer confidence. So far, low mortgage rates and lower home prices aren’t enough to overcome the concern some potential buyers have that prices could fall more. Other would-be buyers are unemployed or underemployed, or can’t qualify for a loan. Scores of would-be move-up buyers owe more than their homes are worth; so they’re stuck,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Article source: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11154938/1/san-francisco-home-sales-volley-like-a-trolley.html