Continuing to follow a trend which shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise, while the number of single-family homes and condos that traded hands across the greater Bay Area increased a seasonally driven 13.7 percent from March to April, total sales (6,987) were down 7.6 percent on a year-over-year basis. And while the median sale price ticked up a seasonally driven 2.4 percent to $850,000, it was unchanged versus the same time last year, according to recorded sales data from CoreLogic.
In San Francisco, recorded sales totaled 572 last month, which was 5.1 percent higher on a year-over-year basis, another outcome which shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise. But as we first reported earlier this month, the pace of sales in San Francisco has already started to retreat.
On the eastern side of the Bay, homes sales totaled 1,447 in Alameda County last month, down 6.2 percent on a year-over-year basis. Sales in Contra Costa County totaled 1,311 (down 9.5 percent). And sales in Solano County totaled 554 in April, down 7.4 percent versus the same time last year.
Down south, home sales in Santa Clara County totaled 1,549 in April, down 14.5 percent on a year-over-year basis, while sales in San Mateo totaled 589, up a nominal 0.2 percent versus the same time last year.
And up north, home sales in Napa totaled 115 last month, down 4.2 percent versus the same time last year. Sales in Sonoma totaled 527, down 10.5 percent. And sales in Marin totaled 323, up 0.9 percent, year-over-year.
With more expensive homes on the market in San Francisco, the median price paid for a home last month was a record $1,400,000 and 5.7 percent above the median sale price at the same time last year.
The median sale price in Alameda County was $825,000 last month, down 1.8 percent on a year-over-year basis; the median sale price in Contra Costa County was $620,000, down 0.8 percent versus the same time last year; and the median sale price in Solano County was $430,000, up 2.4 percent versus April of last year.
The median sale price in Santa Clara County was $1,100,000 last month, down 3.1 percent versus the same time last year, while the median sale price in San Mateo County was $1,360,000, up 3.0 percent, year-over-year.
The median sale price in Marin was $1,075,500 last month, 6.5 percent below its mark at the time last year while the median sale price in Napa ($655,000) was 7.6 percent higher and the median sale price in Sonoma ($580,000) was 4.9 percent lower, year-over-year.
And as such, the median home sale price across the greater Bay Area was $850,000 in April, which was 2.4 percent above its mark in March but unchanged versus the same time last year with a year-over-year trend that has been on the decline since last May.
Keep in mind that while movements in the median sale price are a great measure of what’s selling, they’re not necessarily a great measure of appreciation or changes in value and are susceptible to changes in mix, especially as sales volumes drop, as opposed to movements in the Case-Shiller Index.
Sales volume up in SF, new record median for price paid. A bit surprising
A bump in April sales shouldn’t be too surprising. But the pace of contract signings has already started to retreat.
And with more expensive homes on the market in San Francisco, would you expect the median sale price to bump up or down?
Sales volume is down YOY, not up.
Bay Area home sales were down in April, year-year-over. But the sales volume was up 5.1 percent in San Francisco, a bump which is currently on track to have been a one, or possibly two, month trend.
San Francisco homes sold year-over-year change: +5.1%
San Francisco median price year-over-year change: +5.7%
And with the April bump, home sales in San Francisco are only down 6.9 percent on a year-over-year basis through the first four months of the year, for the slowest start since 2010 (and slowing down).
And once again, with more expensive homes on the market in San Francisco, and subsequent share of the sales, would you expect the median sale price to bump up or down?
And if the previous median price spike of $835,000 in 2007 was unsustainable, what can you expect from a median price that is now 68% higher?
Keep in mind that there are now 150,000 more people living in the city with paychecks than there were in mid-2007, and with far fewer units of housing having been built over the same period of time, units which have tended to be higher-end, accompanied by a significant amount of investment in upgrading and expanding existing properties during the boom.
Yeah, but that was before Uber…right? That wave of wealth that’s going to float every boat higher? The fact that’s it’s been “meh!!” so far just proves it, ‘cuz we all know a tsunami first sucks all the water out, THEN comes thundering back in. So we’re all gonna get wet…or maybe it’s that the predictions will turn out all wet…well, one or the other.
One person’s “meh” is another person’s “wow I can’t believe all the super expensive sales that are taking place right now,” apparently. Nicely, newly finished houses are getting top prices, and also record prices or nearly so, left and right these days. What does a wave look like when you’re swimming on it anyway? A stock ticker page on marketwatch.com ? Case Shiller? Or a series of expensive sales all over the city?
The “”meh” – the link was deleted – was a reference to Uber’s stock price…not housing.