Home prices in the San Francisco Bay Area declined in April by 41 percent as nearly 50 percent of total home sales were properties from foreclosed homes listings, according to San Diego-based real estate research firm MDA DataQuick.
The median home price declined to $304,000, compared to the median of $518,000 in April 2008. It was 54 percent less than the highest home price reached in 2007. Total sales in the area consisted of 7,139 newly-built homes and previously owned homes and condos, including properties from foreclosed homes listings, representing an increase of 13 percent from April 2008.
MDA DataQuick’s president John Walsh said that continued job losses and addition of properties to foreclosed homes listings are undermining housing stability. He added that jumbo mortgage loans are still expensive and difficult to get in the San Francisco area.
Nationwide, the factors driving home sales are the availability of FHA home loans, record low mortgage rates, low-priced properties in foreclosed homes listings and tax incentives. Mortgage rates for fixed-rate 30-year loans dropped further to a low of 4.82 percent, as the Fed bought $1.25 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities in order to reduce mortgage rates.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, properties purchased from foreclosed homes listings accounted for 47 percent of total home sales transactions in April, the lowest level since November. First-time homebuyers used FHA loans, driving sales to high levels.
Twenty-two percent of total sales accounted for jumbo loans, which are mortgage loans above $417,000, dropping from the over 60 percent share during the housing boom in 2007.
Home sales rose in Solano, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Alameda and Santa Clara while sales declined in Napa, Marin, San Mateo and San Francisco.
In all the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area, house prices dropped, with the steepest decline in Solano where the median price fell by 44 percent to $180,000.
The median home price in Contra Costa is $225,000, a decline of 43 percent; in Alameda, it is $289,197, a drop of 39 percent; in Napa, it is $315,000, a 37 percent decline; in Santa Clara, it is $405,000, a drop of 35 percent; in Sonoma, it is $290,000, a decrease of 30 percent; in Marin, it is $585,000, a 27 percent drop; in San Mateo, it is $520,000, a decrease of 23 percent; and in San Francisco, it is $628,500, a drop of 16 percent.
Compared to March, the median home price in the San Francisco Bay Area dropped by 4.8 percent. The median price rose to its highest level of $665,000 in 2007, before the subprime mortgage market collapsed and loaded residential properties into foreclosed homes listings.
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