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Rising home values push more Bay Area homes above water, Zillow says – Alameda Times

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:20:30 +0000

Rising prices pushed thousands of Bay Area homes back above water last year, according to a report released Wednesday, another sign that the region’s housing crisis is easing as the economy recovers.

The report, by the housing website Zillow, shows drops across the region in the number of homes that are underwater — worth less than the value of their mortgages.

More than 56,826 homes bobbed back above water across seven counties of the Bay Area in 2012, Zillow reported. That still leaves 205,986 homes with a total negative equity of $31.5 billion.

And that negative equity is keeping thousands of homes off the market, forcing buyers to compete for whatever comes up for sale.

A dozen wealthy Silicon Valley and Peninsula communities from Belmont to Los Gatos have already returned to pre-crash home prices, the company said.

Zillow is forecasting continued growth in prices this year, followed by a leveling off in 2014.

The company uses a proprietary formula to calculate home values.

In the last three months of 2012, a little more than one-third of Contra Costa County’s homes that had mortgages were underwater, Zillow reported. That was down from 41.3 percent a year earlier.

The figure for Alameda County was 25.4 percent, down from 31 percent a year earlier, while Santa Clara dropped to 15 percent from 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. San Mateo County had 15 percent of its homes with mortgages

underwater,¿¿ down from 20.7 percent a year earlier.

Nearly every part of the Bay Area is seeing a surge in home prices, with the areas that saw the biggest drops following the subprime bubble’s burst having the biggest price increases.

Oakland real estate agent Mark Biggins of Redfin Realty said that in some parts of the East Bay, frenzied bidding has caused prices to soar.

“It’s crazy in parts of Oakland and Berkeley,” Biggins said.

One of his clients just lost out on a home listed at $729,000 that sold for more than $900,000 with 23 offers. “There were five offers over $900,000 for this property. In 2005, that same property sold for $940,000. I think it just sold pretty much for that or more today,” Biggins said.

“Eastern Contra Costa County was dramatically overpriced” before the crash, said Bryce Ellsworth, broker at Windermere Ellsworth and Associates in Brentwood. “Now it’s underpriced, but that’s not going to last for long.”

The Silicon Valley corridor extending from Atherton and Menlo Park through Sunnyvale to Los Gatos is essentially back above water, Zillow reported, with median home values what they were before the crash. Many of those communities lost less in the crash and had less to regain.

“Those that have dropped the least have come back the quickest,” said Rick Turley, San Francisco Bay Area president of Coldwell Banker Residential.

“I would say the sweet spot would be that whole upper Silicon Valley and Peninsula area,” he said. “It probably lost the least amount in the downturn and has come back to new peak highs the quickest.”

San Jose, which fell sharply on large numbers of subprime loans, is still more than 20 percent below its pre-crash peak. But recovery also depends on when a person bought the home.

Real estate agent David Contreras, who specializes in condos in San Jose, said the recovery has gone so fast in San Jose that one client who wanted to short-sell her house for around $160,000 six months ago is now above water and planning to stay.

“Her home shot up easily to $235,000 within the span of about six months,” said Contreras.

But that’s not the case everywhere.

Contra Costa County median home values are still about 48 percent below their peak. Alameda County is 30 percent below, while Santa Clara County is 13.5 percent from its peak and San Mateo is 15.1 percent below it, Zillow said.

San Francisco was the county closest to a return to peak prices, with only slightly more than 3 percent to go.

Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419 Follow him on Twitter.com/petecareyg

uneven recovery

A sampling of Bay Area cities and the percentage they are below their peak home prices reached between 2006 and 2007
City Change from peak
Hayward -48.6 percent
Oakland -38.8 percent
Livermore -30.1 percent
El Cerrito ………..-26 percent
San Jose -20.6 percent
San Ramon……..-18.4 percent
San Mateo……….-15.1 percent
Berkeley…………..-12.5 percent
Redwood City……- 5.7 percent
Menlo Park 0.0 percent
Sunnyvale 0.0 percent
Source: Zillow

Article source: http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_22632191/rising-home-values-push-more-bay-area-homes

Bay Area real estate prices highest in nearly 4 years

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 08:04:44 +0000

Bay Area home sales are continuing to rise, with the median sale price the highest it has been in nearly four years, according to a real estate report released Friday.

In the nine-county Bay Area, 8,461 homes were sold last month — a 22.9 percent increase from the same time last year, according to a report by the real estate information service DataQuick.

The average figure for July, based on data recorded since 1988, is 9,371 home sales.

The median price for a new home or condo was $421,000, which is a 1% increase from $417,000 in June and a 12.6% jump from July 2011.

July’s median price was the highest recorded since it was $447,000 in August 2008.

The increase appears to be connected to a higher share of sales in the mid-to-upper price ranges, according to DataQuick.

Median sale prices in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Solano, Marin, Napa, San Mateo and Sonoma counties all increased in the past year with Napa County seeing the biggest price increase at a 32.6% jump.

Median prices in that county were at $281,000 in July 2011 and reached $372,500 this July, according to DataQuick.

The highest home prices in the region this summer are in San Francisco with $714,000 listed as the median cost, while the lowest can be found in Solano County at $188,000.

Sasha Lekach, Bay City News

— Bay City News Service

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Article source: http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/show_story.php?id=9901

Bay Area Real Estate Prices Highest in Nearly 4 Years

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 20:00:19 +0000

Bay Area home sales are continuing to rise, with the median sale price the highest it has been in nearly four years, according to a real estate report released this week.

In the nine-county Bay Area, 8,461 homes were sold last month — a 22.9 percent increase from the same time last year, according to a report released Wednesday by the real estate information service DataQuick.

The average figure for July, based on data recorded since 1988, is 9,371 home sales.

The median price for a new home or condo was $421,000, which is a 1 percent increase from $417,000 in June and a 12.6 percent jump from July 2011.

July’s median price was the highest recorded since it was $447,000 in August 2008.

The increase appears to be connected to a higher share of sales in the mid-to-upper price ranges, according to DataQuick.

Median prices in that county were at $281,000 in July 2011 and reached $372,500 this July, according to DataQuick.

The highest home prices in the region this summer are in San Francisco with $714,000 listed as the median cost, while the lowest can be found in Solano County at $188,000.

—By Bay City News Service

Article source: http://losgatos.patch.com/articles/bay-area-real-estate-prices-highest-in-nearly-4-years

Bay Area real estate prices highest in four years

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:55:56 +0000

Bay Area home sales are continuing to rise, with the median sale price the highest it has been in nearly four years, according to a real estate report released Wednesday, Aug. 15.

In the nine-county Bay Area, 8,461 homes were sold last month — a 22.9 percent increase from the same time last year, according to a report by the real estate information service DataQuick.

The average figure for July, based on data recorded since 1988, is 9,371 home sales. The median price for a new home or condo was $421,000, which is a 1 percent increase from $417,000 in June and a 12.6 percent jump from July 2011. July’s median price was the highest recorded since it was $447,000 in August 2008.

The increase appears to be connected to a higher share of sales in the mid-to-upper price ranges, according to DataQuick. Median sale prices in Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties all increased in the past year, with Napa County seeing the biggest price increase at a 32.6 percent jump. Median prices in that county were at $281,000 in July 2011 and reached $372,500 this July, according to DataQuick.

The highest home prices in the region this summer are in San Francisco with $714,000 listed as the median cost, while the lowest can be found in Solano County at $188,000.

— Bay City News Service

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Article source: http://mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=5969

Bay Area real estate prices highest in nearly 4 years

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:37:43 +0000

Bay Area home sales are continuing to rise, with the median sale price the highest it has been in nearly four years, according to a real estate report released Wednesday.

In the nine-county Bay Area, 8,461 homes were sold last month — a 22.9 percent increase from the same time last year, according to a report by the real estate information service DataQuick.

The average figure for July, based on data recorded since 1988, is 9,371 home sales.

The median price for a new home or condo was $421,000, which was a 1 percent increase from $417,000 in June and a 12.6 percent jump from July 2011.

July’s median price was the highest recorded since it was $447,000 in August 2008.

The increase appears to be connected to a higher share of sales in the mid-to-upper price ranges, according to DataQuick.

Median prices in that county were at $281,000 in July 2011 and reached $372,500 this July, according to DataQuick.

The highest home prices in the region this summer were in San Francisco with $714,000 listed as the median cost, while the lowest could be found in Solano County at $188,000.

Article source: http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/bay-area-real-estate-prices-highest-nearly-4-years/nRCTy/

Bay Area June Home Sales Fall in June

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:28:07 +0000

July 30, 2012 (Brian Michael)

Monthly sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums in the San Francisco Bay area fell from May to June but were still higher year-over-year for the 12th consecutive month according to real estate information provider DataQuick..

A total of 8,577 new and resale homes were sold in June in the nine county Bay Area, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma Counties. That was 2.6 percent lower than the 8,810 home sales in May but still 7.2 percent higher than the 7,998 sales posted in June of 2011. Year-over-year home sales have improved for 12 consecutive months.

Home sales typically increase from May to June in the Bay area with last month’s home sales 14.8 percent below their historical average.

Cash buyers accounted for 27.5 percent of the homes purchased for the month, down from 28.3 percent in May and they paid a median price of $277,000 for the homes they purchased, down from $280,000 the previous month.

Absentee buyers, usually investors and vacation home buyers, accounted for 23.4 percent of all sales, down from 24.4 percent in May, paying a median price of $270,000 for the homes they purchased, up from $262,000 the previous month..

The median sales price for new and resale homes and condos in June increased 4.3 percent to $417,000, up from $400,000 in May. The median price was 10.4 percent higher than in June of 2011, when the median price stood at $377,750. It was the third consecutive month that year-over-year home prices have improved in the area following 19 straight months of declines.

By comparison, the lowest median price posted during the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in June 2009, while the peak median price was $665,000 in June/July 2007.

John Walsh, president of DataQuick, stated, “Some of today’s stats are similar to what we saw in the thick of the housing downturn back in 2009, only in reverse: Instead of foreclosure resales soaring they’re waning, and instead of high-end sales slumping they’re posting some of the larger sales gains. This is one of the main reasons that various price measures are pointing higher – a so-called change in market mix. While last month’s jump in the median sale price might to some extent reflect prices edging a bit higher in certain markets, mostly it’s a reflection of the change in market mix. Fewer discounted distressed properties changing hands, more normal sales in the move-up range.”

Distressed home sales accounted for 36.1 percent of the Bay Area’s re-sale market last month, down from a revised 39.0 percent in May. Foreclosure re-sales accounted for 18.1 percent of all existing home sales in June, down from 21.4 percent in May, while short sales also made up about 18.0 percent of the Bay Area’s existing home sales last month, up from a revised 17.6 percent in May.

Tags: Bay Area, DataQuick, home sales, home prices, spring selling season, median sales price, new homes, re-sale homes

Source:
Dataquick

Article source: http://loanrateupdate.com/mortgages/bay-area-june-home-sales-fall-in-june

San Francisco Bay Area Home Sales Reach Five-Year High for March

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:47:30 +0000

Home sales in the San Francisco Bay
Area reached the highest level for the month of March in five
years as an improving economy and low interest rates lured
buyers, according to DataQuick.

A total of 7,694 houses and condominiums sold last month in
the nine-county region, up 35 percent from February and 9.1
percent from March 2011, the San Diego-based data seller said
today in a statement. March sales were last higher in 2007, when
they reached 8,317. Condo resales totaled 1,734, the most for
any month since August 2006.

“While the changes we’re seeing are incremental, they’re
incremental in a positive direction,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in the statement. A backlog of distressed properties
and tight mortgage credit are “two of the big issues” still
holding back the market, he said.

The Bay Area median price last month was $358,000, up 10
percent from February and down 0.6 percent from March 2011.
Prices have dropped on a year-over-year basis every month since
October 2010, with last month’s decline being the smallest.

Prices in San Francisco County were unchanged from a year
earlier at a median $650,000. In Marin County, the median fell
almost 16 percent to $565,000.

Eight of the region’s nine counties had sales gains from a
year earlier, led by Solano with a 13 percent advance.
Transactions rose 11 percent in San Francisco and 7 percent in
Santa Clara. In Napa, the only county to have a decrease, sales
fell 0.8 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Dan Levy in San Francisco at
dlevy13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kara Wetzel at
kwetzel@bloomberg.net

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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-19/san-francisco-bay-area-home-sales-reach-five-year-high-for-march.html

Bay Area Home Sales Improve as Investors and Cash Buyers Move In

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:14:09 +0000

March 19, 2012 (Brian Michael)

A record amount of purchases by investors and cash buyers helped push monthly sales of new and existing homes in the Bay Area higher in February according to real estate information provider DataQuick.

A total of 5,702 new and resale homes were sold in February in the nine county Bay Area, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma Counties. That was 4.1 percent higher than the 5,479 home sales in January and 14.2 percent higher than the 4,991 sales posted in February of 2011. Year-over-year home sales have improved for eight consecutive months.

Home sales typically increase from January to February in the Bay area with last month’s sales still 9.0 percent below the historical average of 6,268 sales despite the help of an extra day of sales due to the leap year. February’s sales tally was still the highest for that month since 2007.

Cash buyers accounted for a record 32.0 percent of the homes sold for the month, up from a revised 29.9 percent in January, paying a median price of $247,000 for their purchases. The previous record for cash purchases was 30.5 percent, reached in February of 2011.

Absentee buyers, usually investors and vacation home buyers, accounted for a record 26.0 percent of all sales, up from a revised 25.2 percent in January, paying a median price of $230,000 for the homes they purchased.

The median sales price for new and resale homes and condos in February fell 0.3 percent to $325,500, down from $326,000 in January. The median price was 3.6 percent lower than in February of 2011, when the median price stood at $337,250. It was the 17th consecutive month that home prices have declined year-over-year.

By comparison, the lowest median price posted during the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in March 2009, while the peak median price was $665,000 in June/July 2007.

Transactions below $300,000, where most cash buyers and investors make their purchases, posted the largest increase in sales activity, up 16.8 percent from a year ago.

John Walsh, president of DataQuick, stated, “The market is still strange, just a little less strange than it was. We also need to keep in mind that, when it comes to statistical trends, February is the least typical month of the year. Over the winter you’re left with a higher concentration of investors and people who must buy or sell because of a major life event. In the spring, when many traditional buyers return, we’ll get a much better read on the market. Meanwhile, many potential buyers are still waiting for the lending spigot to open more. Drum-tight credit conditions continue to undermine housing, along with negative equity and the various uncertainties plaguing would-be buyers.”

Distressed home sales accounted for 50.5 percent of the Bay Area’s re-sale market last month, down from a revised 50.7 percent in January. Foreclosure re-sales accounted for 27.4 percent of all existing home sales in February, up from a revised 27.2 percent in January, while short sales made up about 23.1 percent of the Bay Area’s existing homes sales last month, down from a revised 23.5 percent in January.

Foreclosure re-sales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009 while the rate of foreclosure re-sales has been about ten percent over the last 15 years.

Tags: Bay Area, DataQuick, home sales, home prices, spring selling season, median sales price, new homes, re-sale homes

Source:
Dataquick

Article source: http://loanrateupdate.com/mortgages/bay-area-home-sales-improve-as-investors-and-cash-buyers-move-in

Investors Help Push Bay Area Sales Higher, Prices Lower

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:53:20 +0000

January 20, 2012 (Brian Michael)

Just like their brethren to the south, monthly sales of new and existing homes in the Bay area surged in December, fueled by a record percentage of sales to investors according to real estate information provider DataQuick, but the lower prices they paid for their purchases helped push overall prices down.

A total of 7,494 new and resale homes were sold in December in the nine county Bay Area, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma Counties. That was 18.6 percent higher than the 6,317 home sales in November and 4.4 percent higher than the 7,178 sales posted in December of 2010.

Home sales typically increase 9.9 percent from November to December in the Bay area with sales varying from a low of 5,065 in 2007 to a high of 12,349 in 2003 with a monthly average of 8,643 sales.

John Walsh, president of DataQuick, stated, “We’ll remember 2011 as much for what didn’t happen as for what did. People put discretionary buying and selling on hold, except at the very top of the market. The spectacular gains in affordability, based on the combination of lower prices and ultra-low interest rates, was largely theoretical for many people because it was so hard to get a mortgage. That, combined with negative equity and economic uncertainty, kept people away.”

The median sales price for new and resale homes and condos in December fell 3.5 percent to $351,500, down from $363,500 in November. The median price was 6.3 percent lower than in December of 2010, when the median price stood at $375,000. It was the 15th consecutive month that home prices have declined year-over-year.

By comparison, the lowest median price posted during the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in March 2009, while the peak median price was $665,000 in June/July 2007.

Distressed home sales accounted for 49.6 percent of the Bay Area’s re-sale market last month, up from 45.9 percent in November. Foreclosure re-sales accounted for 28.6 percent of all existing home sales in December, up from 26.5 percent in November, while short sales made up about 21.0 percent of the Bay Area’s existing homes sales last month, down from 21.3 percent in November.

Foreclosure re-sales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009 while the rate of foreclosure re-sales has been about ten percent over the last 15 years.

Cash buyers accounted for 27.4 percent of the homes sold for the month, up from 27.1 percent in November, paying a median price of $215,000 for their purchases.

Absentee buyers, usually investors and vacation home buyers, accounted for a record 23.8 percent of all sales, up from 21.7 percent in November, paying a median price of $225,000 for the homes they purchased which was down from $250,000 in November. Sales of homes priced under $300,000, the primary market for investors, were 15.2 percent higher than they were a year ago.

Tags: Bay Area, DataQuick, home sales, home prices, spring selling season, median sales price, new homes, re-sale homes

Source:
Dataquick

Article source: http://loanrateupdate.com/mortgages/investors-help-push-bay-area-sales-higher-prices-lower

Bay Area housing trends continue: Sales are up, prices are down

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:47:03 +0000

December real estate activity in the Bay Area mirrored the rest of the year’s activity — sales slowly gained while prices dropped.

Home sales increased 4.4 percent from December of 2010, market researcher DataQuick reported Wednesday, marking the sixth consecutive month Bay Area home sales rose on a year-over-year basis. In the same period, the median price declined 6.3 percent, falling to $351,500.

The loss of value in Bay Area homes has been a developing trend since the mortgage crisis struck in 2007. From the beginning of that year to the end of 2011, the loss in home value in five Bay Area counties was $387 billion, a 33 percent decline. That figure — calculated by DataQuick for the Bay Area News Group based on the average price per square foot paid for housing — is necessarily an estimate, because it’s based on the value of houses sold, and the types of homes sold in both periods.

Contra Costa County was hit the hardest, followed by Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco, in that order. There was a wide variation within counties, with some areas hit harder than others.

DataQuick president John Walsh said the pattern reflects the drive to find bargains in the distressed Bay Area housing market, for which DataQuick examines 10 counties in the region.

“Many of the deals that did make their way through the system were in the distressed arena — foreclosures and short sales. Much of it was deeply discounted cash

purchases, disproportionately at the lower end of the price scale,” Walsh said in the San Diego-based company’s news release.

Sales of homes that had been foreclosed upon within the previous 12 months accounted for 28.6 percent of homes resold in the Bay Area in December, DataQuick reported, though that metric decreased from 30.1 percent in December 2010. Short sales — which is when a house sells for less than the remainder of what was owed on the property — were about 21 percent of Bay Area homes resold in December, up from 18.1 percent a year earlier.

The biggest Bay Area decrease in median price for new and resale homes and condos for the month of December was in San Mateo County, where the median price dived from $560,000 in December 2010 to $500,000 in the same month last year, a decline of 10.7 percent. Sales declined on the Peninsula as well, dropping 2.3 percent from the same month in the previous year.

Santa Clara County also experienced a drop in sales from the year before, falling 2.1 percent from 1,646 homes sold in December 2010 to 1,616 sold last month. Alameda and Contra Costa counties were more in line with the overall Bay Area trend: Alameda County experienced a 4.5 percent increase in sales, hitting 1,584 homes sold, and a 5.5 percent decrease in median price, to $328,000; Contra Costa County’s home sales rose 3.1 percent year-over-year, to 1,534, with the median price dropping 2.3 percent to $259,000.

Extreme examples of the trend occurred in the North Bay, with Sonoma and Marin counties experiencing double-digit growth in year-over-year home sales and large dips in median price at the same time. Sonoma County’s home sales increased 17 percent to 538, while the median price fell 9.8 percent to $279,500; 280 homes were sold in Marin County in December, a 23.9 percent increase from the same month in 2010, while the median price declined 13.6 percent in the same period to $517,818.

While the volatility of prices has caused stress among realtors, experts say it is the perfect time to buy a home — if you can qualify for a loan in the tough credit market.

“We’re going to see prices stabilize,” Ken Rosen, chairman at the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley, said late last year. “It’s already happening in pockets like Silicon Valley and San Francisco. If you want to buy a house, it’s probably the best time in California in 30 years.”

Staff writer Pete Carey contributed to this report. Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_19766802