DQNews Archived Article

Bay Area Home Prices Peak

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
May, 1998

La Jolla, CA.— Bay Area home sales reached their highest level of the decade in April, while prices also edged up to new highs, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 6,745 resale houses were sold in the nine-county Bay Area in April, up 25.8 percent from 5,362 for the month before and up 14.5 percent from 5,891 for April a year ago, according to DataQuick Products Division.

Sales counts have been going up on a year-over-year basis for almost three years, and the number of homes sold in April was the highest since 7,259 resale houses were sold in August 1989.

"It may seem like buying activity in some local markets is a bit frenzied, but the market overall is quite healthy. Buyers are not stretching themselves thin, there are sales increases in all market categories, and price increases may be leveling off a bit," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Bay Area resale house was $272,000 in April. It was up 4.2 percent from $261,000 in March and up 4.6 percent from $260,000 in April a year ago. Prices have increased on a year-over-year basis for the last two-and-a-half years. Last November the year-over-year price increase was 13.5 percent.

April's median was the highest on record for the Bay Area as a whole, as well as for Marin County where the median was $385,000, San Francisco where it was $340,000, San Mateo County at $355,500 and Santa Clara County at $322,000.

DataQuick Products Division 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.
	Apr-97	Apr-98	Chng.	Apr-97	Apr-98	Chng.
Alameda	1,144	1,360	18.90%	$224K	$245K	9.40%
Contra Costa	1,006	1,229	22.20%	$231K	$219K	-5.20%
Marin	340	350	2.90%	$364K	$385K	5.80%
Napa	89	110	23.60%	$171K	$183K	7.00%
San Francisco	369	353	-4.30%	$300K	$340K	13.30%
San Mateo	685	597	-12.80%	$325K	$356K	9.50%
Santa Clara	1,426	1,721	20.70%	$298K	$322K	8.10%
Solano	354	432	22.00%	$135K	$148K	9.60%
Sonoma	478	593	24.10%	$205K	$210K	2.40%
Bay Area	5,891	6,745	14.50%	$260K	$272K	4.60%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909)867-9534

Copyright © 1998 DataQuick Information Systems.
All rights reserved.

---