by Calculated Risk on 11/17/2005 03:16:00 PM

DataQuick reports: Continued sales slowdown in Bay Area, appreciation flat

The number of homes sold in the nine-county Bay Area declined on a year-over-year basis for the seventh month in a row in October, the result of rising mortgage interest rates and reduced demand, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 10,508 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the region last month. That was down 6.2 percent from 11,205 for September, and down 6.0 percent from 11,180 for October last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Sales have been lower compared to 2004 every month since April. So far this year 107,099 Bay Area homes have been sold, 5.1 percent fewer than 112,873 for the same ten-month period last year.

"We look at today's market as normalizing. Everybody seems to have gotten used to the records set last year and the year before. The fact is that last month was the third-strongest October since we started keeping records in 1988. It was about twenty percent above average," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $614,000 last month. That was down 0.3 percent from $616,000 in September, and up 17.2 percent from $524,000 for October a year ago. Annual price increases so far this year have ranged from 17.2 percent to 20.5 percent.