The median price for houses and condominiums in the nine-
county Bay Area increased to $400,000, up 2.6 percent from April
and 7.5 percent from May 2011, the San Diego-based data seller
said today in a statement. Almost 39 percent of purchases
exceeded $500,000, the most since August 2010.

“It’s not exactly a stampede, but people are starting to
move off the housing-market sidelines in numbers we haven’t seen
in quite a while,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in the
statement. “Foreclosures are a significantly smaller portion of
what’s selling, and the higher-cost coastal markets are seeing
more activity.”

Total sales in the Bay Area rose to 8,810, up 15 percent
from the previous month and 26 percent from May 2011. It was the
highest tally for the month since 2006. Foreclosure sales
accounted for 22 percent of the total, down from almost 27
percent a year earlier and the lowest since January 2008.

Prices in both San Francisco and Santa Clara counties rose
6.2 percent, to a median $701,000 and $529,000, respectively.
The biggest increase was in Contra Costa County, where the
median gained 16 percent to $295,000. The Marin County median
price fell 2 percent to $627,000, according to DataQuick.

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/2012-06-14/san-francisco-bay-area-home-prices-climb-to-22-month-high.html

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