Home sales in the Bay Area hit their second-highest level in June as the median sales price passed $600,000 for the first time, according to DataQuick Information Systems, a real estate information service.
A total of 13,014 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region last month. That was up 2.5 percent from 11,308 for May, and down 7.7 percent from 14,104 for June last year, DataQuick reported.
The year-ago June sales count was the highest in DataQuick’s statistics, which go back to 1988.
“Robust demand, unchanging mortgage interest rates and a few more homes on the market are the likely factors behind the strong June numbers. We expect the rest of the summer to be like this,” said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.
The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $610,000, a new record. That was up 2.5 percent from $595,000 in May, and up 18.2 percent from $516,000 for June a year ago.
The median passed through the $500,000 range in 13 months – it was in the $400,000 range for 25 months before that.
Home sales were down 18.3 percent in San Mateo County from June 2004 to June 2005, down 16.5 percent in Marin County, down 14.6 percent in San Francisco County, down 10.3 percent in Napa County and down 9.1 percent in Santa Clara County. June 2005 sales were higher than June 2004 sales in just one Bay Area County: Solano County, which saw sales rise 8.7 percent, DataQuick reported.
Bay Area home-price appreciation was hottest in Solano County, where the median price rose 25.4 percent – from $358,000 to $449,000 – from June 2004 to June 2005. Median prices appreciated 24.1 percent in Sonoma County in that time, 21.8 percent in Contra Costa County, 21.4 percent in Napa County, and 18.8 percent in Alameda County. San Francisco and San Mateo, meanwhile, had the slowest appreciate rates in that time, at 16.4 percent. Median prices in June 2005 were highest in Marin County, at $815,000.
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $2,651 in June, up slightly from $2,646 in June. A year ago it was $2,450. Indicators of market distress are still largely absent, DataQuick reported: Foreclosure rates are low, down-payment sizes are stable and there have been no significant shifts in market mix.
A subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.
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