Bay Area Sales Down from Year Ago, Median Price Sees Double-Digit Gain

Overall Bay Area home sales were up month-over-month but down from a year ago, according to ""DataQuick's"":http://www.dataquick.com/ March home sales report for the region.

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Home sales-which include new and resale houses and condos-totaled 7,263 in the nine county Bay Area in March. The figure represents a 34.4 percent increase from the month before, but sales were still down 6 percent March 2012, according to the San Diego-based company.

DataQuick noted low-end sales saw a steep drop, but transactions for homes valued at or above $500,000 jumped, adding a lift to the median sales price, which has risen yearly for 12 straight months.

The median price paid for a home in the Bay Area stood at $436,000 in March, up 7.7 percent monthly and 21.8 percent yearly.

According to DataQuick, the area's annual price increases have been in the double-digits over the last 10 months. The median is still 34.4 percent below the June and July 2007 peak of $665,000, but far above the March 2009 post-peak low of $290,000

""Higher sales in the middle and top of the housing market reflect improved consumer confidence, ultra-low mortgage rates and the unleashing of more pent-up demand than many anticipated. There's been a shift in psychology, where more people worry prices will rise and fewer fear a decline,"" said John Walsh, DataQuick president. ""In the more affordable markets, we've seen a big drop in foreclosures, which limits the supply of homes for sale.""

Distressed property sales in the Bay Area fell to the lowest level in five years, DataQuick reported. The data provider found foreclosure resales and short sales together accounted for about 30 percent of resales in the Bay Area last month. The overall share is down from 35 percent in February and 49 percent in March 2012.

Foreclosure resales accounted for just 10.7 percent of Bay Area resales, down from 14 percent in February and down from 25.5 percent a year ago. Last month's level was the lowest since November 2007 when foreclosure resales were 10.1 percent of the resale market. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009.