Strong Bay Area Home Sales, Prices Edge Up in November

December 19, 2002

La Jolla, CA.--Sales of Bay Area Homes were strong in November and prices were up, the result of steady demand and reasonable mortgage interest rates.

A total of 8,265 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was down 12.8 percent from 9,474 for October, and up 24.4 percent from 6,644 for November a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

A decline from October to November is normal for the season. So far this year 102,928 Bay Area homes have been sold, up 22.7 percent from 83,915 for the same eleven-month period last year. In 1999 the January-to-November sales count was 109,128

"Prices are near last July's $417,000 peak and we expect the December median to pass that. There are still no indications that buyers are stretching their finances beyond what they normally do, we expect current trends to last well into the new year," said John Karevoll, DataQuick analyst.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $416,000 last month. That was up 2.0 percent from $408,000 in October, and up 13.0 percent from $368,000 for November last year. That year-over-year increase was the strongest since March 2001 when the $386,000 median was up 17.3 percent from $329,000 a year earlier.

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. Because of some gaps in data availability, the sales counts for several counties are extrapolated.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,915 in November. A year ago it was $1,843. The peak was in May 2000 at $2,124.

All Homes	No Sold Nov-01	No Sold Nov-02	Pct. Chg	Median Nov-01	Median Nov-02	Pct. Chg
Alameda	1,309	1,771	35.3%	$352K	$407K	15.6%
Contra Costa	1,464	1,599	9.2%	$308K	$352K	14.3%
Marin	309	334	8.1%	$513K	$602K	17.3%
Napa	159	171	7.5%	$341K	$398K	16.7%
San Francisco	355	493	38.9%	$492K	$568K	15.4%
San Mateo	531	620	16.8%	$490K	$522K	6.5%
Santa Clara	1,284	1,894	47.5%	$421K	$446K	5.9%
Solano	635	733	15.4%	$247K	$291K	17.8%
Sonoma	598	650	8.7%	$319K	$342K	7.2%
Bay Area	6,644	8,265	24.4%	$368K	$416K	13.0%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909)867-9534

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