DQNews Archived Article

Bay Area home sales

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
January, 1998

La Jolla, CA.— December home sales in the Bay Area continued at the fastest pace of the 1990s as prices continued to climb, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 5,856 resale houses were sold in the nine-county Bay Area in December. That was up 19.8 percent from 4,890 for November and up 24.7 percent from 4,695 for December a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

A decline from November to December is normal for the season. The year-over-year increase is the 30th in a row and every calendar month since April has seen sales highs for the decade.

"This is not a 'frenzy', despite what some people are saying. The Bay Area has a hot real estate market right now, but sales counts and prices are not out of line when economic fundamentals like interest rates, job growth and household income are taken into account," said Michael Ela, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Bay Area resale house was $257,000 in December, up 11.3 percent from $231,000 a year ago. The year-over-year price increase was the 24th in a row. During the last four months, that increase has been in the double digits.

DataQuick monitors real estate purchasing and financing activity nationwide, and provides information to consumers, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

Resale houses

	No Sold	No Sold	Pct.	Median	Median	Pct.
	Dec-96	Dec-97	Chng.	Dec-96	Dec-97	Chng.
Alameda	981	1,131	15.30%	$205	$220	7.30%
Contra Costa	788	1,039	31.90%	$188	$203	8.00%
Marin	208	286	37.50%	$315	$349	10.80%
Napa	70	120	71.40%	$175	$180	2.90%
San Francisco	315	375	19.00%	$275	$318	15.60%
San Mateo	532	609	14.50%	$295	$345	16.90%
Santa Clara	1,114	1,417	27.20%	$270	$310	14.80%
Solano	325	378	16.30%	$138	$148	7.20%
Sonoma	362	518	43.10%	$189	$198	4.80%
Bay Area	4,695	5,873	25.10%	$231	$257	11.30%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909)867-9534

Copyright © 1998 DataQuick Information Systems.
All rights reserved.

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