According to the National Association of Realtors, “single-family median home prices increased year-over-year in 93% of measured markets in the third quarter, with 166 of 178 metropolitan statistical areas showing sales price gains” and an average gain of 5.1 percent over the past year. And that’s up from 91 percent of the metro markets having recorded a gain in the second quarter of the year and 86 percent in the first.
Neither of the two Bay Area metro areas made the 93 percent cut, however, with the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward MSA recording a 2.5 percent decline while the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA was down 4.6 percent.
And while up an average of 3.4 percent nationwide, the median sale price for existing condos within the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward MSA was down 5.5 percent in the third quarter as well.
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 (which happens to have turned negative as well).
In related news, Index for Bay Area Home Values Drops Despite Gains Nationwide.