Home sales in the San Francisco Bay Area increased last month to their highest level for an April since 2006, according to new data from San Diego-based DataQuick.
DataQuick reports that the median sale price rose year-over-year for the first time in 19 months, reaching its highest point since September 2010. A total of 7,675 new and resale homes sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month – virtually unchanged from the 7,694 recorded in the prior month and up 13.1% from 6,789 in April a year ago.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month was $390,000 – up 8.9% from $358,000 in March and up 8.3% from $360,000 in April 2011.
Distressed-property sales made up about 40% of April's resale market, down from about 44% the month before and 45% a year ago. Foreclosure resales accounted for 21.7% of resales in April – the lowest since 18.8% in January 2008 – while short sales made up an estimated 18.1% of Bay Area resales last month.
Buyers who appear to have paid for their homes in cash accounted for 28.8% of sales in April. Cash buyers paid a median of $270,000 in April, up from $250,000 the prior month and $262,000 a year earlier.
‘It appears that the market is taking a step in the direction of normalization, but only a step,’ says John Walsh, president of DataQuick. ‘We're still watching technical indicators more than top-line sales counts and median prices. The mortgage market is critical, as is market mix and the receding importance of foreclosure resales.’