Bay Area housing market stabilizing | Armonk NY Real Estate

After years of post-bubble turbulence, the Bay Area housing market appears headed for a period of stability as rapid price increases hit a wall and sales plateau.

 

October median sale prices for existing houses were up double digits from a year ago, but were down from peaks in June and July, DataQuick reported Wednesday. Sales of existing single family houses were down 6.8 percent across the Bay Area from the same month last year, though up slightly from September.

Without the frenzied competition that characterized the first half of the year, buyers are being more selective and sellers have to be more patient and realistic in their pricing.

This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, photo, shows an exterior view of house with a pending home sale sign in Palo Alto, Calif. (Paul Sakuma/AP Photo)
 

"There's more to choose from, less sense of urgency, and probably fewer people out there shopping," said Andrew LePage of DataQuick. And the spike in interest rates during the summer also discouraged some buyers, he said.

"We're clearly cooling off a bit," said Lanny Baker, chief executive of ZipRealty, who noted that pending sales in the Bay Area ended October down 7 percent from the previous year. Nationally, and in the Bay Area, he said, housing prices in the cities with the strongest gains of early 2013 are moderating, and lagging markets are starting to accelerate.

But there are plenty of hot spots with low inventory and high demand. In Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Atherton, "We don't have enough houses to sell," said Wendy McPherson of Coldwell Banker. "Some parts of the market of course are slower by nature of the price range. That's normal. But under $4 million we do not have enough houses to sell."

Peter Giovannatto with Dreyfus Sotheby's International Realty in Palo Alto said the "baseline price" for real estate there is $1,000 a square foot. "We're getting random emails from investors offering $1.4 million to $1.6 million for lots," he said




http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24514833/bay-area-home-prices-continue-annual-gains