For the first time in more than four years the median price paid for a Bay Area home dropped below the half-million mark to $485,000 last month, according to a real estate information service. The big decline in the median price has been attributed to more sellers settling for less, lenders unloading more aggressively-priced foreclosures and more sales activity shifting to less-expensive areas, mainly inland.
According to DataQuick Information Systems, the median price of a Bay Area home plunged 27 percent in June compared to last year, when the median price was at $665,000. June's $485,000 median was 6.2 percent below May's median of $517,000. The June median was the lowest since it was $469,500 in March 2004.
A total of 7,178 new and resale houses and condos sold across the nine-county Bay Area in June, up 15.5 percent from May but down 9.9 percent from June 2007. The report states sales fared better over the past few months with more bargain hunters showing more interest in properties in many inland markets, where prices have fallen by as much as 30 percent or more from their peaks.
"So far it's been mostly the inland areas where prices have dropped enough to rejuvenate sales," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.
The housing picture continues to appear healthy in many parts of Santa Clara County. Although the median price of a Santa Clara County home dropped 12.4 percent to $612,000 in June, it is still considered among the region's most expensive counties, along with Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo. Sales in Santa Clara County were down nearly 25 percent in June 2008 compared to last year, but activity is picking up, particularly in the Silicon Valley region.
Information from MLSListings Inc., the Multiple Listing Service for the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, shows some Santa Clara County communities appear to be bucking the trend of falling median prices. Los Gatos saw its median sales price for a single-family home rise from $1.3 million in June 2007 to $1,450,000 in June 2008; Palo Alto, $1,432,500 to $1,605,500; Santa Clara $750,000 to $780,000; and Campbell, $767,250 to $780,000. The local MLS data shows month after month improvement in sales for single family homes in the county, with 927 closed sales in June, up from 873 in May and 654 in April.
DataQuick reported the typical monthly mortgage payment Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $2,283 last month, down from $3,219 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 12.2 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 33.9 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.
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.
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