San Francisco Area Home Sales Hit 2008 High

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LA JOLLA, CA -- Bay Area homes sold at their fastest pace in 17 months in October as buyers favored more affordable inland areas where depreciation and foreclosures have hit hardest. As a result, the median sale price continued its steep, months-long decline, falling a record 40.6%, or $256,000, from a year ago, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 7,613 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the nine-county Bay Area in October. That was up 4.7% from 7,271 in September, and up 38.8% from 5,486 in October 2007, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.

More often than not, Bay Area sales have risen slightly between September and October over the past two decades, but October has never been the peak sales month in any of those years.

Last month's sales were the highest for any month since June 2007, when 7,964 homes sold. But sales were still the second-lowest for any October since 1995 and were 14.2% below the average number sold during October since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin.

Regionwide sales this fall have far outshined the relatively weak transaction levels of a year ago, when sales were depressed by the August 2007 credit crunch and earlier subprime mortgage market meltdown. In the Bay Area and across the state, home shoppers' resolve to snag a "bargain" seems to have outweighed concerns over September's especially grim news on the economy and financial markets.
Inland communities continued to fuel the bulk of the Bay Area's sales gains, attracting buyers searching for the biggest discounts.