Wild, Wild West: California ‘Bringing Bargain-Hunting Buyers Back’
California’s housing market can see a very faint glimmer at the end of the tunnel. Slow sales and rising inventories made home prices more affordable. More bargain-hunters have been attracted to the market, according to Ryan Ratcliff, an Anderson Forecast economist.
In the San Francisco Bay Area sales were down year-over-year more than 23 percent, as home sales in May dipped to their slowest pace at least since 1988, when DataQuick began monitoring sales. One in four homes sold in May in the 9-county area were foreclosure properties..
The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $517,000, down a record 21.7 percent from $660,000 in May last year and down 22.3 percent from the peak $665,000 median in June and July 2007.
The last time the Bay Area median was lower than $517,000 was back in September 2004, when it was $510,000.