The number of single-family homes and condos that traded hands across the greater Bay Area dropped 2.3 percent from July to 7,247 August, which was down nearly 6 percent on a year-over-year basis and a 9-year seasonal low, according to recorded sales data from CoreLogic.
At the same time, the median sale price for the Bay Area homes that traded hands last month slipped 0.7 percent to $810,000, which is down 2.4 percent versus the same time last year, representing the sixth consecutive month with either a year-over-year decline or no gain.
In San Francisco, total sales dropped nearly 13 percent from July to 424 August and were down 9.0 percent on a year-over-year basis, representing the fewest August home sales in over 15 years, which shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise.
On the eastern side of the Bay, a total of 1,527 homes traded hands in Alameda County last month, which was down 6.6 percent on a year-over-year basis. Sales in Contra Costa County totaled 1,529, which was down 0.8 percent. And sales in Solano County, the least expensive county around the Bay, totaled 671 in August, which was actually up 8.4 percent versus the same time last year.
Down south, home sales in Santa Clara County totaled 1,519 in August, down 10.5 percent on a year-over-year basis while sales in San Mateo County totaled 549, which was down 8.8 percent.
And up north, home sales in Napa totaled 122 in August, down 18.7 percent versus the same time last year. Sales in Sonoma came in at 596, which was down 10.6 percent. And sales in Marin ticked up 1.6 percent to 310.
While the share of more expensive home sales in the city increased, the median price paid for those 424 homes in San Francisco was $1,350,000, unchanged from July but 2.9 percent above the median sale price at the same time last year.
The median sale price in Alameda County was an estimated $825,000 last month, down 2.9 percent versus the same time last year; the median sale price in Contra Costa County was $630,000, which was down 2.8 percent; and the median sale price in Solano County was $440,000, up 2.3 percent on a year-over-year basis.
The median sale price in Santa Clara County was $1,023,000 in August, which was 8.0 percent below its mark at the same time last year, while the median sale price in San Mateo County was $1,286,500, which was down a percent.
The median sale price in Marin was $1,007,000 last month, which was 0.7 percent above its mark at the same time last year, while the median sale price in Napa was $635,000, which was down 3.8 percent, and the median sale price in Sonoma inched up 0.8 percent to $615,000.
And as such, the median home sale price across the greater Bay Area was $810,000 in August, down from $830,000 at the same time last year and versus a peak of $875,000 in June of last year.
And as always, 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.