Home Sales: Strongest Bay Area October in over Fifteen Years

November 20, 2003

La Jolla, CA.--Bay Area homes sold at a record pace last month, the result of strong demand and affordable mortgage interest rates. Prices were at or near all-time highs.

A total of 11,728 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was down 1.6 percent from 11,919 for the month before and up 23.8 percent from 9,474 for October a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last month's sales count was the highest for any October in DataQuick's records, which go back to 1988. So far this year 101,201 homes have been sold, up 6.9 percent from 94,663 for year-to-date October last year. The previous high for the same ten-month period was 100,003 in 1999.

"We didn't expect the numbers to be this strong, clearly there are a lot of buyers out there taking advantage of reasonable mortgage interest rates. The statistics are strong in all categories, which indicates that current trends will stay in place for the next few months, at least," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $446,000 last month, the same as the month before and up 9.3 percent from $408,000 for October a year ago. The all-time peak of $447,000 was reached in August.

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 $2,035 in October. A year ago it was $1,921. The peak was in May 2000 at $2,124.

Indicators of market distress are still largely absent. Foreclosure rates are low, flipping rates are low, down payment sizes are stable and there have been no significant shifts in market mix, DataQuick reported.

All Homes	No Sold Oct-02	No Sold Oct-03	Pct. Chg	Median Oct-02	Median Oct-03	Pct. Chg
Alameda	1,878	2,528	34.6%	$394K	$420K	6.6%
Contra Costa	2,168	2,270	4.7%	$352K	$390K	10.8%
Marin	327	406	24.2%	$578K	$591K	2.2%
Napa	195	174	-10.8%	$378K	$439K	16.1%
San Francisco	518	779	50.4%	$537K	$571K	6.3%
San Mateo	711	916	28.8%	$521K	$547K	5.0%
Santa Clara	2,031	2,851	40.4%	$461K	$482K	4.6%
Solano	857	869	1.4%	$283K	$324K	14.5%
Sonoma	789	935	18.5%	$350K	$383K	9.4%
Bay Area	9,474	11,728	23.8%	$408K	$446K	9.3%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com

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