Santa Clara County median home price rises to record: $803,000
April Bay Area sales at lowest level in 12 years
By Sue McAllister
Mercury News
Article Launched: 05/16/2007 12:22:28 PM PDT
Home price trends across the Bay Area were mixed in April, with median prices falling compared with last year in counties with more affordable homes, and rising in the more expensive counties, a real estate information firm reported today.
But in those expensive counties, there's a catch to understanding the increase in median prices: The mix of homes that are selling has changed. Considerably fewer homes than normal are selling in the least expensive neighborhoods. With those out of the mix, the median price rises. Some homes in some neighborhoods are gaining in value, certainly - but this spring, "market mix" is also a factor clearly influencing the increase in median prices.
In Santa Clara County, for example, the median price of resale single-family houses rose nearly 11 percent compared with April 2006, to $803,000, according to DataQuick Information Systems, which gathers the data from public records of completed sales. It marks the first time the county's median price has topped $800,000.
In San Mateo County, the median house price increased 7.3 percent, to $880,000. In Solano County, meanwhile, the median house price fell nearly 9 percent, to $425,000.
The median is a halfway point, meaning half the homes sold for more than a certain amount, and half sold for less.
Fewer homes changed hands in the Bay Area last month than during any April since 1995, DataQuick said. A total of 7,447 new and resale houses and condos sold last month, down 10.5 percent from March, and down 18.4 percent from a year earlier.
"With sales this slow, prices would decline if there were a huge number of motivated sellers listing their homes. That doesn't appear to be the case," said DataQuick president Marshall Prentice, in a statement released with the data. "It's likely that potential buyers are biding their time, as are sellers."
