State’s median home price down 40% from February ’08

The median home price in California dropped 40% in February from a year earlier, a real estate tracking firm reported Thursday.

MDA DataQuick also said that home sales in the state jumped nearly 43%.

The San Diego company said the median price was $224,000 last month, compared with $373,000 in February 2008.

Foreclosures accounted for 58% of home sales in California last month.

In Northern California, the median home price plunged 46% in February from a year earlier, dropping the figure to its lowest level since 1999, MDA DataQuick said.

It said the median price in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area declined to $295,000 last month, compared with $548,000 in February 2008.

The report said the low prices fueled a 26% increase in home sales, mostly in far-flung inland suburbs stung by foreclosures. Price declines were less steep in more expensive coastal areas.

Some potential buyers for those high-end homes have been stymied by the frozen credit market, which has made it difficult to obtain so-called jumbo loans exceeding $417,000.

The February median price in the Bay Area stood at its lowest since it reached $299,000 in December 1999.

The median price for the area peaked at $665,000 in mid-2007.

The median home price in Southern California dropped 39% in February from a year earlier, DataQuick said.