Bay Area Home Sales Down, Prices Leveling Off

September 25, 2001

La Jolla, CA--Home sales in the Bay Area continued to drop last month as prices eased back to December levels.

A total of 9,202 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was up 8.8 percent from 8,459 in July and down 15.8 percent from 10,931 for August last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last month's sales count was the strongest since October when 9,789 homes were sold. So far this year 62,203 homes have been sold, down 15.9 percent from 73,953 for the same eight-month period last year.

"These numbers obviously precede the tragic events of September 11. What remains to be seen is what effect those events and the U.S. response to them will have on home sales. Uncertainty and turbulence may give the market pause, or people may move assets into real estate as a safe haven. Nobody knows," said Mike Ela, DataQuick's president.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $375,000 last month. That was down 2.1 percent from July's record $383,000, and up 4.5 percent from $359,000 for August a year ago. The median was $373,000 last December.

DataQuick, a subsidiary 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.

The median price paid for a home statewide was $232,000 last month, up 1.3 percent from $229,000 in July, and up 9.4 percent from $212,000 for August a year ago, DataQuick reported.

All Homes

All Homes	No Sold Aug-00	No Sold Aug-01	Pct. Change	Median Aug-00	Median Aug-01	Pct. Change
Alameda	2,294	2,008	-12.5%	$335K	$359K	7.2%
Contra Costa	2,195	1,893	-13.8%	$268K	$312K	16.4%
Marin	455	426	-6.4%	$520K	$547K	5.2%
Napa	130	200	53.8%	$313K	$308K	-1.6%
San Francisco	582	461	-20.8%	$493K	$489K	-0.8%
San Mateo	885	805	-9.0%	$469K	$499K	6.4%
Santa Clara	2,577	1,820	-29.4%	$444K	$434K	-2.3%
Solano	840	804	-4.3%	$200K	$239K	19.5%
Sonoma	965	785	-18.7%	$293K	$310K	5.8%
Bay Area	10,931	9,202	-15.8%	$359K	$375K	4.5%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

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