Bay Area home Prices Edge Down, Slowest Sales in Eleven Years

DataQuick reports: "The median price paid for a Bay area home was a revised $601,000 last month, down 2.8 percent from a revised $618,000 for December, and down 1.5 percent from a revised $610,000 for January last year. Year-over-year price changes have been negative three of the last four months, ending a 57-month rise that started in December 2001. Last month's median was the lowest since $597,000 in May 2005."

Please keep in mind when reading the report that Napa County (-6.5%) and Sonoma County (-10.4%) are not the Bay Area. San Francisco county actually had a slight price increase of 0.7% and Alameda county similarly at 0.9%

Existing-home sales remained flat in January, with the median price holding steady at $640,000. Marin County saw the biggest jump, with the median price climbing 7.6 percent to $935,000 from $869,000.

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Nationally, Home prices ready to rebound, Realtors say, after nasty Q4,
from the USA TODAY, reports that home prices should spring back in the coming months, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, after it reported that prices slid in 73 metro areas in the fourth quarter of 2006. Home sales seem to have hit bottom already in many areas: 71 metro areas had price gains, and 14 of them posted double-digit year-to-year increases. Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona saw the biggest decreases in sales volume. "At least the bottom appears to have already occurred," said Lawrence Yun, senior economist at the NAR. "Now whether or not that will be sustainable is a different question", he added. The latest news about mortgage rates should help boost home sales. The average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate for 2006 was 6.40%. Currently it's down to 6.30%, Freddie Mac said Thursday. "It's great news," said Frank Notaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "I don't see any sharp swings in mortgage rates in the near term," he added.