California home sales show year-over-year improvements

by KERRI PANCHUK

Home sales in the San Francisco area edged up in November over year-ago figures, although they dipped from October. Statewide, sales across California also declined month-over-month, but showed an increase from year-ago figures, DataQuick said.


A total of 6,317 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was down 2% from 6,444 in October, and up 3.4% from 6,111 in November 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.


Overall, California had an estimated 32,669 home sales statewide last month, down 4.2% from 34,087 in October, but up 4% from 31,403 in November 2010.

DataQuick President John Walsh said buyers remain hesitant to jump back into the market.

"These days, buyers and sellers have to contend with two sets of problems, which sometimes play into each other and sometimes conflict with each other," Walsh said. "The first is the lousy economy and the opportunities it presents, for better or worse. The second is the dysfunctional mortgage finance system. Interest rates may be at record lows, but the types of mortgages that are available have been drastically reduced and qualifying is a true grind."

The median sales price on all Bay Area homes in November fell to $363,000 from the prior month, buy increased 3.9% from $350,000 last year.

Statewide the median price for a California home was $244,000, up 1.7% from $240,000 in October and down 4.3% from $255,000 a year ago.

URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/2011/12/15/california-home-sales-shows-year-over-year-improvements

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