The $510,000 median for the nine-county Bay Area represents a jump of 30.8 percent from a year ago and a record 17 percent above March’s median price, said DataQuick, a San Diego real estate service that produced the report.

“The Bay Area is getting back to normal fast,” said Andrew LePage, a DataQuick analyst. “We’ve had just the right ingredients for big increases in the median and other price measures. We’ve got drum-tight inventory of homes for sale, an unprecedented level of investors chasing homes, interest rates lower than most of us alive have ever seen, and changes in the types of homes selling and where they’re selling.”

The median represents a midpoint, meaning half of Bay Area homes sold for more than $510,000 and half sold for less. It is influenced both by actual appreciation in home values and by a changing mix of homes sold.

The Bay Area median peaked at $665,000 in summer 2007. During the real estate downturn, bargain-basement foreclosures and short sales helped drag the median down to a low of $375,000 in March 2009. Now, with far fewer distress sales and more high-end homes changing hands, a similar dynamic is buoying it. DataQuick said the median has regained 59 percent of its losses.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: Csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Bay-Area-median-home-price-hits-510-000-4520145.php

The report on inventory and price activity, released Thursday, pointed out that the median price of a single-family home in L.A. County was $301,300 last month, compared to $271,540 in May— an 11 percent rise.

But compared to a year ago, prices were down 3.9 percent. The median level represents the midpoint of values.

Median home prices in California in June rose 1 percent to $295,300, from $292,420 in May, according to the report. 

Compared to a year ago, prices across the state were off 5.9 percent as the median price of a single-family home was $313,890.

As for home sales in the county, figures showed that existing home sales were up 2.4 percent from May to June, and down 11.6 percent from June 2010.

Sales of existing homes statewide rose 1.2 percent month-to-month, according to the report. The median number of days it took to sell a home was 50.3.

“Looking across the state, a number of areas are showing signs of strength, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily because of the strong performing tech industry,” said California Association of Realtors Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young in a statement.   

But the association’s president, Beth Peerce, warned in a statement that the positive signals shouldn’t be interpreted as a turnaround for the state’s real estate market.

Federal changes to mortgage loan limits and down payment requirements set to take effect Sept. 30 could “adversely affect the market,” she said.

June 2011 county sales and price activity for existing single-family detached homes:

(Source: California Association of Realtors)

— City News Service contributed to this report.

Article source: http://hermosabeach.patch.com/articles/home-prices-rise-countywide