MDA DataQuick said sales of homes and condos in the San Francisco Bay Area surged 45 percent in September from a year ago — the largest leap since April 2002 — but the median home price slipped 40 percent from last year’s peak as the mix of sales included more inland foreclosures.
Nearly 42 percent of all existing homes sold around the Bay Area last month were foreclosed on at some point in the last 12 months, compared with 36.1 percent in August and 6.9 percent a year ago, according to DataQuick.
At $400,000, the Bay Area median sale price hit a low not seen since March 2003, and was nearly 39.9 percent below the peak of $665,000 seen in June, July and August of 2007.
Although sales rose in some coastal communities, fewer foreclosores meant fewer motivated sellers willing to drop prices, and sales did not surge as much as in inland areas, if at all, DataQuick said. Less expensive inand areas that have been hardest hit by foreclosures accounted for much of the region’s increase in sales and decline in median home price.
In the nine-county Bay Area, foreclosure resales accounted for slightly less than one in 10 resales in San Francisco but more than two out of three homes in inland Solano County.
Statewide, DataQuick said September sales of new and existing homes and condos grew 6.1 percent from August, to 40,316 — a 64.8 percent increase from the record low of 24,460 the same month a year ago.
The median sale price statewide was down 6 percent from a month ago, to $283,000, and off 34.2 percent from a year ago. DataQuick attributed about half of the decline to depreciation, and the other half to shifts in the types of homes selling and how they were financed.
In a separate report, DataQuick said foreclosure resales accounted for 47.6 percent of all California resale activity during the third quarter.
The number of notices of default filed against California homeowners fell during the third quarter for the first time since 2005, DataQuick said.
The report attributed the 22.5 percent quarter-to-quarter decline to a new law that took effect in September requiring loan servicers to give homeowners 30 days’ notice before filing a notice of default. Data aggregator RealtyTrac reported similar findings today (see story).
DataQuick said the 94,240 notices of default filed in California during the quarter nevertheless represented a 29.9 perent increase from a year ago.
The firm estimated that 20 percent of homes subject to such notices emerge from the foreclosure process by bringing their payments current, refinancing, or other means. That’s down from 46 percent a year ago, in part because of the number of homes with multple loan financing that hinders lender workouts.
Trustees deeds recorded — homes actually lost to foreclosure — totaled 79,511 during the third quarter, up 25.6 percent quarter-to-quarter and up 228 percent from a year ago, and the highest total since DataQuick began tracking the filings in 1988.
***
What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor.
