DQNews Archived Article

Bay Area Home Sales Pick Up

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
September, 2000

La Jolla, CA.— Bay Area home sales returned to near record levels in August, shrugging off high prices and tight inventory, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 7,501 resale houses were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was up 18.6 percent from 6,323 in July, and down 0.9 percent from 7,570 for August a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last month's sales count was the highest of this year. It was the second strongest August on record, behind last year's. So far this year, 50,451 resale houses have been sold in the Bay Area, 6.9 percent fewer than last year's record 54,194. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.

"Some of the August activity may have been deferred from July. There was a bit of summer turbulence when mortgage interest rates went up, then they came back down. The current sales surge is somewhat surprising. At some point the rising prices are going to turn off buyers, but that doesn't appear to have happened yet," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a resale house in the Bay Area was $373,000 in August. That was up 0.3 percent from $372,000 in July and up 23.9 percent from $301,000 for August last year. Prices have tied or set records every month of this year.

DataQuick, a business unit of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

Sales of resale houses statewide are up. Sales last month totaled 36,800, up 2.6 percent from 35,869 for August last year. The median was $210,000, up 11.4 percent from $188,500 last year, DataQuick reported.

Resale houses