California Real Estate Prices down, Sales up in January

Median home prices went down and home sales enjoyed a slight rise for the whole of California, according to recently reported figures from DataQuick, a research company based in San Diego. This was attributed to the increase of distressed home sales around the San Francisco area and real estate investors in Southern California.

According to DataQuick’s report, California’s median home price was at $236,000 for January 2012, marking a 1.1 percent decrease on a year-on-year basis. This is the sixteenth consecutive month the year-on-year median home price went down. Southern California’s median price went down to $260,000, a 3.7 percent decrease, while Bay Area median prices were at $326,000 with a nearly identical drop of 3.6 percent.

On the other hand, sales went up for the sixth straight month on a year-on-year basis for the whole of California. January 2012’s 1.5 percent increase over January 2011 figures was marred, however, by a huge 25.5 percent drop from December 2011 sales. Sales in Southern California barely increased, going up 0.4 percent from January 2011, while the Bay Area enjoyed a huge leap of 10.3 percent from the previous January.

To see current Bay Area home inventory visit: http://www.authenticre.com/