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REALTOR®: November Home Prices in Bay Area a Mixed BagWednesday, December 26, 2007
A real estate information service reported this month while prices continued to hold up in the region’s core markets, sluggish demand kept sales at a two-decade low for the third straight month in the Bay Area. “This fall's sharp decline in jumbo-loan financing continued to weigh heavily on Bay Area home sales, though we do see evidence the problem has stabilized,” said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick Information Systems president. “The percent of all transactions financed with jumbo mortgages increased slightly in November for the first time since the credit crunch hit in August. We expect sales to pick up at least modestly as the price and availability of jumbo loans improves.” A total of 5,127 new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area in November, down 6.5 percent from October sales, and down 36.2 percent from November 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems. Until last month, the slowest November was in 1990, when 6,015 homes sold. The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $629,000 last month, up 1.5 percent from $620,000 in November last year. Overall the Santa Clara County housing market saw sales drop 35 percent in November 2007 compared with the prior year, but DataQuick reported the median price for all homes – single family and condominiums/townhouses – continued its movement upward, though slightly, to $678,000, an increase of 0.7 percent from the November 2006 median home price. The median home prices in other Bay Area core markets like the counties of Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo, also increased. “The market in Silicon Valley has been a mixed bag this year,” said Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® President Mark Burns. “The east side of the Valley was generally flat, but quite a number of neighborhoods on the west side like Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Willow Glen, Almaden Valley, have had multiple offers on a lot of property and this is still going on today.” “As the population grows, we will see prices continue to rise. People are paying for shorter commutes, better schools, and nicer neighborhoods. This paints a very vivid picture,” Burns explained. “Confidence in the market and employment prospects remain strong. Rents are going up as vacancy factors get smaller. People are not afraid of taking risks in real estate here that folks in the rest of the country would not even dream of.” The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $2,964 last month, down from $3,000 the previous month, and up from $2,883 a year ago. DataQuick reported indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity is at record levels, financing with adjustable-rate mortgages and with multiple mortgages have dropped sharply. Down payment sizes and flipping rates are stable, and non-owner occupied buying activity has edged up. The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley. The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers. For further information, please contact Rose Meily at SILVAR Public Affairs, e-mail , or phone (408) 200-0109. |
