Homes in the Golden State keep getting more and more expensive, and prices are approaching an all-time high.
CoreLogic’s most recent report, recounting the key figures for November 2015 home sales, say that we’re getting close to pre-crisis levels. For just one example, the median price paid for all homes sold in the San Francisco Bay Area was $649,000. That means that the median is just 2.4 percent below the peak of $665,000, which was recorded in June and July of 2007.
But, San Francisco is much like other areas of the country in a few important ways: inventories are low, sales volume has dropped off, and prices are still climbing toward or are very close to their pre-crash days. Whether the slow sales can be attributed to the time of year, or to TRID dragging on the market, the slumber is real.
“November was a mixed month for San Francisco Bay Area home sales,” said Andrew LePage, an analyst with CoreLogic, in a statement.
“Despite a 6 percent year-over-year increase, home sales fell more than usual from October to November and remained 17 percent below the long-term November average. Many home shoppers continue to struggle because of a low inventory of homes for sale as well as affordability and credit hurdles. Lower-cost inland markets, like Contra Costa and Solano counties, posted the region’s highest year-over-year sales increases as more homebuyers looked farther inland for affordable housing.”
But the priciest by far was San Francisco county. Year-over-year prices climbed 10 percent, from a staggering $1,045,000 average, to an incredible $1,150,000 this past November. That’s not the greatest percentage gain: that achievement goes to San Mateo County, which will soon join the million dollar average club, with last November’s $843,000 median eclipsed by this November’s $960,000, a gain of almost 14 percent.
Not surprisingly, homes priced at $500,000 or more were 65.7 percent of all sales in November 2015, greater than the year-to-year and month-to-month totals. June 2015 experienced the highest level for sales of $500,000 or more this year at 67.0 percent.
Overall in the region, year-over-year sales were up more than 6 percent. But there is some ground still to be gained; November 2015 sales were 16.8 percent below the November average of 7,725 sales observed since 1988.
As with most other areas of the country, fewer distressed homes are crowding the market. REO sales accounted for 2 percent of total San Francisco Bay Area home sales in November 2015, down slightly from 2.1 percent in October 2015 and down from 2.4 percent in November 2014. REOs were slightly more than half the market in January 2009.
