Feb 15, 2008 12:54 pm US/Pacific
January Bay Area Home Sales Drop 42 Percent
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ―
Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area tumbled in January to the lowest level in more than 20 years, as buyers continued to wait out the housing slump or were unable to find affordable financing as lenders pulled back on many loan products.
In all, 3,586 homes were sold in the region last month, a decline of nearly 42 percent from January 2007's total—the lowest sales pace for any month since 1988, DataQuick Information Systems said Thursday.
The sharp sales decline follows a nearly 50 percent drop in sales in Southern California in the same period.
January's Bay area sales were down about 29 percent from December. Sales volume has been down year-over-year the past 36 months.
The region includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma counties.
Median home prices fell or were flat in all but one county, Marin, where they rose 1.8 percent to $845,000.
For the region, the median price dropped 8.5 percent to $550,000 from $601,000 a year earlier. It was down 6.4 percent from December, the firm said.
The last time the median home price was lower was in February 2005, when it hit $549,000.
A key factor contributing to the decline in home sales and median price is the dearth of so-called jumbo loans exceeding $417,000, the amount that government-backed mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will buy from lenders.
The number of homes purchased with jumbo loans last month fell
by 74 percent from a year earlier.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
How Do Rain Gauges Really Work? 40 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Comments