Posts (RSS)Silicon Valley Repossession Property Sales Still Up
The percentage of repossession property sales in the Silicon Valley resale market in June was still high compared to the share of foreclosure sales in June 2008, based on real estate sales data in Santa Clara and in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In June, 31 percent of all resale of condos and houses were from repossession property inventories. This percentage is lower than the 45.4 percent share in January when repossession property sales reached their peak in nine months. But the percentage is still significantly higher than the 17.9 percent share in June 2008.
Nevertheless, real estate analysts in Santa Clara and in the Bay Area are encouraged by the record home sales in June, which reached their highest levels in 3 years.
In June, 1,458 houses were sold, representing a jump of 31 percent from sales in June last year. The June sales marked the seventh straight month that house sales rose in the valley on a year-to-year basis.
Because of the drop in repossession property sales and the increase in sales of higher-priced homes, the median sales price for pre-owned single-family houses in June increased to $485,000.
Similarly, the median home sales price in the Bay Area also increased. In June, the median for single-family houses rose to $670,000, compared to sales prices in previous months, but it is still substantially lower than the peak median price of $805,500 in July 2007.
Sales prices in the valley reached their lowest points in January, when the median price was only $420,000.
According to analysts in the region, the median sales price increased because the number of higher-priced homes sold in June increased. Sellers of high-end homes reduced further their asking prices after their properties are not getting sold.
In Santa Clara, homes priced above $1 million comprised more than 11 percent of total home sales in June. This represented a drop from the sales in May, but almost double of high-end sales in January.
Analysts also contended that the increase in the FHA conforming loan limit from just above $400,000 to $729,750 may have been a factor in the rise in sales of higher-priced homes.
In the Bay Area, more than 8,600 houses of all types were sold in June, marking a jump of 20 percent compared to June 2008 sales. The median sales price was $352,000, a decrease of around 27 percent compared to the median price in June 2008.
On the whole, repossession property sales in the Silicon Valley are still high despite a drop in their share of the resale market.