Community Corner

Ross Valley Home Sales Decline in January, But Prices Continue to Rise

Despite a sales slowdown in January, the regional housing market continues to rebound, and prices continue to rise.

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Jennifer Squires, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge
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Low inventory caused Marin's housing market to lose some of its holiday season robustness in January, but prices continued to outpace those from a year prior, a real estate information service reported.

The median home price rose by more than 20 percent in Marin County from January 2012 to January 2013, DataQuick reported. The median home price for the county last month was $640,000, up from $523,000 in January 2012.

It's expected the median home price in Fairfax and San Anselmo will increase by 5 percent this year, a recent study predicted.

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But the number of home sales in Marin County actually declined when comparing January 2012 to last month: 181 homes sold in Janary 2013, down slightly from 191 a year ago.

A total of 19 homes were sold in Fairfax and San Anselmo in January – 5 in Fairfax and 13 in San Anselmo – according to the real estate website Zillow.com. That was down from 27 - 8 in Fairfax and 19 in San Anselmo – in December 2012, according to the site.

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Throughout the nine-county Bay Area tracked by DataQuick, home prices and the volume of sales completed in January were the in six years and the tenth straight year-over-year increase in the median sale price.

The median price paid for a home in the Bay Area was $415,000 in January. That was down 6.3 percent from $442,750 in December, and up 27.3 percent from $326,000 in January a year ago, according to DataQuick.

DataQuick President John Walsh said in a statement that underlying Bay Area real estate trends like a still-dysfunctional mortgage market indicate that the market is still far from normal.

"That said, the market imbalances are moving toward normalcy, with baby steps,” he said.

Bay Area Housing Stats for January Sales Volume Median Price County Jan 2012 Jan 2013 % Change Jan 2012 Jan 2013 % Change Alameda 1,097 1,196 9% $295,000 $385,000 30.5% Contra Costa 1,115 1,165 4.5% $235,000 $301,500 28.3% Marin 191 181 -5.2% $523,000 $640,000 22.4% Napa 93 108 16.1% $332,500 $380,000 14.3% Santa Clara 1,183 1,115 -5.7% $418,000 $550,000 31.6% San Francisco 308 394 27.9% $602,500 $699,000 16% San Mateo 412 421 2.2% $465,000 $600,500 29.1% Solano 508 523 3.0% $179,500 $219,000 21.8% Sonoma 423 398 -5.9% $285,000 $340,000 19.3% Bay Area 5,330 5,501 3.2% $326,000 $415,000 27.3%

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