Home sales were flat across the Golden State in October, but here in the Bay Area, we saw a solid uptick in activity, according to a new report.
The California Association of Realtors’ most recent home sales and price report says that single-family home sales increased 8.6 percent from September to October in the nine-county Bay Area. During that same time period, sales volume was unchanged in California.
In a statement accompanying the report, CAR Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young said that the Bay Area continues to be one of the state’s healthiest real estate markets.
“While home sales essentially were unchanged statewide, there were pockets of strong sales growth, especially in coastal regions,” Appleton-Young said. “The Bay Area, for example, continued to exhibit strong price gains, decent sales growth, and extremely low housing inventory.”
CAR says that the Bay Area is also the only region in the state where homes are selling for above list price. The organization reports that while homes across California are selling for about 97.5 percent of list price, Bay Area properties are going for about 101.3 percent of asking price.
The median sales price for a single-family home in the Bay Area increased to $760,610 in October, a 4.2 percent gain from the previous month. However, only three Bay Area counties saw month-over-month sales price growth, while the other six saw declines.
On an annual basis, prices displayed a more consistent pattern, with all nine counties posting gains – seven in the double-digit range. Year-over-year price increases ranged from 20.4 percent in Napa County to 1 percent in Marin County.
The report shows that the number of Bay Area single-family homes on the market decreased as the fourth quarter began, with the months’ supply of inventory (MSI) declining from 2.8 in September to 2.2 in October. The MSI dropped month over month in eight of nine local counties, with only Sonoma County posting slight inventory gains.
Silicon Valley remains California’s most in-demand and fastest-paced real estate market, the numbers show. San Mateo and Santa Clara were the only two counties in the state where the MSI was less than 2.0 in October. Homes in San Mateo County sold in an average of 19.5 days – the quickest in California – while Santa Clara County was the second fastest moving market, with homes selling in an average of 20.9 days.
San Mateo and Santa Clara counties also had the highest prices per square foot in the state: $659 and $521, respectively.
(Image: Flickr/Ryan Heaney)