Bay Area home sales down 40%

September home sales in Northern California sank to their lowest level in two decades as mortgages became harder to get, a real estate research firm said Thursday.

A total of 5,014 new and resale homes and condominiums were sold last month in nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, a 40.1% drop from the same period a year earlier, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last month was the slowest September since the firm began keeping records in 1988.

Sales plunged 31.3% from August as lenders, stung by a nationwide credit crunch, put the brakes on many “jumbo” loans above the $417,000 mark.

Some large mortgages are still being written, but credit requirements have tightened, DataQuick reported.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home in September was $625,000.