Bay Area home prices rise, sales plunge in November

Bay Area home prices rose while sales tumbled last month as buyers struggled to afford homes amid tight supply.

The median sales price in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area increased 1.9% from October to $550,000, research firm DataQuick said Tuesday. Prices are 25.6% higher than November 2012.

Buyers in the tech-industry mecca purchased 6,659 new and resale condos and houses in November, a 12.3% drop from October and down 10.9% over the year.

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The region’s housing market continued to heal in November as distressed sales declined. Homes that had been foreclosed upon within the last year constituted 3.7% of resales. That’s down from 12.5% a year earlier.

Short sales also declined.

Sales fell over the year in all counties except for Marin, where sales rose 5.5% from November 2012.