Real Estate
Marin Home Sales Jump, Median Price Continues to Rise
Counties across the Bay Area saw the number of homes sold increase on a year-over-year basis for the 16th month in a row in October.
The number of homes sold in Marin jumped substantially in October compared to the same period a year ago, while the county's mdia home price continued to rise as well, a real estate information service reported.
DataQuick reported Wednesday that 335 homes were sold in Marin during October, up nearly 46 percent from the 230 that were sold in October 2011. The sales also were a major uptick from 268 homes sold in Sept. 2012.
The median home price in Marin also rose in October, hitting $660,000, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier. The median price in September was $650,000, DataQuick reported.
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Those trends matched those across the nine-county Bay Area, which saw the number of homes sold increase on a year-over-year basis for the 16th month in a row in October while the median price paid rose for the sixth month, according to Dataquick. The firm said the trend was the result of a gradual rebalancing of the real estate market.
A total of 7,795 new and resale homes were sold in the Bay Area last month. That was up 13.8 percent from 6,850 in September, and up 21.0 percent from 6,444 for October 2011. Sales for the month of October have varied from 5,486 in 2007 to 13,392 in 2003, while the average for all months of October since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics start, is 8,587.
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The median price paid for a home in the Bay Area was $416,000 last month. That was down 3 percent from $429,000 in September and up 18.9 percent from $350,000 in October a year ago. The year-over-year percentage increase was the highest since May 2010, when the $410,000 median rose 20.1 percent.
“We’re still watching the market regain the ground it lost after 2007," DataQuick President John Walsh said in a statement. "It’s unclear exactly much of today’s apparent price increase reflects actual growth, and how much reflects a change in market characteristics. The two factors obviously play into each other. We’re definitely seeing less distress and foreclosure activity, and more mid- to up-market sales. Supply is limited, and getting through the mortgage process is still rough.”
Here's a Bay Area breakdown of home sales and median price:
All Homes #Sold #Sold % Change Median Median % Change Oct. 2011 Oct. 2012 Oct. 2011 Oct. 2012 Marin 230 335 45.7% $602,909 $660,000 9.5% Alameda 1,308 1,618 23.7% $340,000 $384,000 12.9% Contra Costa 1,329 1,454 9.4% $250,750 $302,500 20.6% Napa 102 152 49.0% $310,000 $365,000 17.7% Santa Clara 1,417 1,718 21.2% $450,000 $535,000 18.9% San Francisco 448 572 27.7% $635,000 $794,500 25.1% San Mateo 566 717 26.7% $525,000 $626,500 19.3% Solano 554 598 7.9% $188,000 $216,000 14.9% Sonoma 490 631 28.8% $283,500 $350,000 23.5% Bay Area 6,444 7,795 21.0% $350,000 $416,000 18.9%Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
