Bay Area home sales and median price rise in May

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The median sale price of Bay Area homes jumped in May and the overall number of homes sold in the region also rose, the real estate information service MDA DataQuick reported today. It was the second month in a row that the median increased, and the ninth time overall sales went up.

The median price paid for homes in the Bay Area was $341,500, up 12.3% from $304,000 this April but down 33.9% from $517,000 in May of last year, the group said in its monthly report.

The increase of $37,500 from April to May was due in part to a small hike in home sales financed with loans for $417,000 and higher, known as jumbo mortgages, DataQuick said.

Jumbo mortgages made up 25.5% of the region’s home sales last month, the report said. Two years ago, jumbo mortgages accounted for more than 60% of homes sold in the Bay Area, the group said in a statement on the May report.

Sales of existing single-family homes fetching $800,000 or more rose to 13.2% of all house resales last month, up from 9.8% in April, DataQuick said. That number is at its highest point for the Bay Area since hitting 14.8% last October, it said.

Resales of homes for less than $400,000 dropped to 57.5% of sales in May, down from 62.2% in April and at its lowest point since hitting 56.5% in November, the group said.

A total of 7,447 new and resale homes and condos sold in the nine-county region last month, up 4.3% from 7,139 this April and up 19.8% from 6,216 in May 2008, it said.

DataQuick defines the Bay Area as the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles