by Calculated Risk on 1/19/2006 02:51:00 PM

DataQuick reports: Decline in Bay Area home sales, prices

Home sales in the nine-county Bay Area declined on a year-over-year basis for the ninth month in a row in December as prices eased back from their November peak, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 9,347 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the region last month. That was down 3.8 percent from 9,717 for November, and down 15.5 percent from 11,068 for December last year ...

"Demand still seems to be there, but the sense of urgency seems to be a thing of the past. We don't expect the market to tumble, but we do expect price increases to level off between now and spring," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $609,000 last month. That was down 2.6 percent from November's record high of $625,000, and up 14.3 percent from $533,000 for December a year ago. The annual price increase was the lowest since prices rose 13.1 percent to $474,000 in March 2004.