Bay Area Home Sales, Prices Steady in August

September 20, 2002

La Jolla, CA--Home prices in the Bay Area stayed unchanged at their July peak last month as the sales pace also remained steady.

A total of 9,639 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was down 4.8 percent from 10,122 for July, and up 4.7 percent from 9,202 for August a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

So far this year 76,527 Bay Area homes have been sold, up 23.0 percent from 62,203 for the same eight-month period last year. In 1999 the January-to-August sales count was 79,991.

"Last month's sales were actually somewhat stronger than the numbers indicate. Because of a surge of refinance activity, lenders and appraisers are overly busy and some escrow closings are being put off a week or two. So some of August's activity will close in September," said Mike Ela, DataQuick's president.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $417,000 last month. That was the same as July's record, and up 10.9 percent from $376,000 for August last year.

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 typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,966 in August. A year ago it was $1,911.

All Homes	No Sold Aug-01	No Sold Aug-02	Pct. Chg	Median Aug-01	Median Aug-02	Pct. Chg
Alameda	2,008	2,046	1.9%	$359K	$410K	14.2%
Contra Costa	1,893	1,930	2.0%	$312K	$347K	11.2%
Marin	426	387	-9.2%	$547K	$590K	7.9%
Napa	200	195	-2.5%	$308K	$363K	17.9%
San Francisco	461	602	30.6%	$489K	$549K	12.3%
San Mateo	805	681	-15.4%	$499K	$545K	9.2%
Santa Clara	1,820	2,086	14.6%	$434K	$464K	6.9%
Solano	804	839	4.4%	$239K	$280K	17.2%
Sonoma	785	873	11.2%	$310K	$348K	12.3%
Bay Area	9,202	9,639	4.7%	$376K	$417K	10.9%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com

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