Statewide home sales declined in April, while home prices increased, according to the California Association of REALTORS®. REALTOR® officials' projections, however, are not dampened by the slow start in spring sales. officials' projections, however, are not dampened by the slow start in spring sales.
Information collected from more than 90 local REALTORS® associations and MLSs statewide shows closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled 499,830 units in April, down 2.9 percent from March, but up 5 percent from the previous year.
In the nine-county Bay Area region, sales were up 1.2 percent from April of 2010, but down 3.2 percent from March of this year. It is a mixed bag, however, depending on location. Napa County saw existing home sales rise 19.8 percent from April of 2010, but experienced no change in sales from the prior month. Santa Clara County's housing market saw April 2011 sales of existing, single-family homes rise 2.3 percent from April 2010 and increase 4.3 percent from March of this year.
The statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home sold in California rose 2.5 percent in April to $293,570, up from a revised $286,510 in March. April's median price was down 4.4 percent from the $307,000 recorded in April 2010. Similarly, in the Bay Area, the median price of $490,670 was up slightly 0.8 percent from March, but down 8.8 percent from April 2010. Santa Clara County's median price of an existing, single-family detached home in April 2011 was $585,000, up 4.2 percent from the March median of $561,500, but down 6.8 percent from the median of $628,000 in April 2010.
Despite the statewide drop in sales of existing single-family homes in April, REALTOR® officials do not expect prices to head downward. California Association of REALTORS® president Beth Peerce said, "An improving economy, coupled with the steady pace of distressed sales in the market and the typical seasonal pattern in the median home price, suggests the statewide median price has reached its low point for this year and is unlikely to hit the bottom reached in February 2009."
"The market in the region is stabilizing. Affordability has improved in the Silicon Valley region, which continues to be a prime location in the state," said Gene Lentz, president of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®.
Housing affordability improved throughout the state in the first quarter of 2011, led by low interest rates and home prices, according to the state REALTOR® group. The percentage of buyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, single-family home in California rose to 53 percent in the first quarter of 2011, up from 50 percent in fourth-quarter 2010 and 50 percent in first-quarter 2010, according to the association's Traditional Housing Affordability Index. In Santa Clara County, affordability was at 37 percent in the first quarter of this year, up from 33 percent in the previous quarter and 34 percent in the first quarter of 2010.
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 email or call the SILVAR office at (408) 200-0100.