Continued sales slowdown in Bay Area, appreciation flat

November 17, 2005

La Jolla, CA.----The number of homes sold in the nine-county Bay Area declined on a year-over-year basis for the seventh month in a row in October, the result of rising mortgage interest rates and reduced demand, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 10,508 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the region last month. That was down 6.2 percent from 11,205 for September, and down 6.0 percent from 11,180 for October last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Sales have been lower compared to 2004 every month since April. So far this year 107,099 Bay Area homes have been sold, 5.1 percent fewer than 112,873 for the same ten-month period last year.

"We look at today's market as normalizing. Everybody seems to have gotten used to the records set last year and the year before. The fact is that last month was the third-strongest October since we started keeping records in 1988. It was about twenty percent above average," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $614,000 last month. That was down 0.3 percent from $616,000 in September, and up 17.2 percent from $524,000 for October a year ago. Annual price increases so far this year have ranged from 17.2 percent to 20.5 percent.

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 $2,815 in October. That was up from $2,722 in September. A year ago it was $2,419.

Indicators of market distress are still largely absent. Foreclosure 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-04	No Sold Oct-05	Pct. Chg	Median Oct-04	Median Oct-05	Pct. Chg
Alameda	2,458	2,187	-11.0%	$497K	$571K	14.9%
Contra Costa	2,252	2,104	-6.6%	$468K	$575K	22.9%
Marin	404	395	-2.2%	$688K	$817K	18.8%
Napa	206	187	-9.2%	$527K	$608K	15.4%
San Francisco	650	605	-6.9%	$666K	$778K	16.8%
San Mateo	840	754	-10.2%	$656K	$759K	15.7%
Santa Clara	2,595	2,557	-1.5%	$552K	$639K	15.8%
Solano	978	936	-4.3%	$413K	$476K	15.3%
Sonoma	797	783	-1.8%	$477K	$564K	18.2%
Bay Area	11,180	10,508	-6.0%	$524K	$614K	17.2%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com

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