DataQuick on California Bay Area: Sales "Dip" in August, Distressed Sales Down

From DataQuick: Bay Area August Home Sales Dip; Median Price Eases Back From July

A total of 8,616 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was down 7.7 percent from 9,339 in July and down 0.6 percent from 8,670 in August last year, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last month’s sales were 10.3 percent behind the long-term August average of 9,601. August sales have ranged from 6,688 in 1992 to 13,940 in 2004. DataQuick’s statistics begin in 1988 and the Bay Area has had below-average sales every month since the fall of 2006.
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Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 4.6 percent of resales in August, the same as July’s revised percentage, and down from 14.5 percent a year ago. The July and August level is the lowest since 4.4 percent in August 2007. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 17 years is about 10 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 10.0 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 10.6 percent in July and down from 23.3 percent a year earlier.

The key in this report is the decline in distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales). Distressed sales are now down to 14.6% from 37.8% in August 2012.