In San Francisco for the month of April, 2010, the median price of a single-family home rose more than 10% from April of last year ($706,500 to $788,750). This increase of $82,250 in median sales price is an 11.65% gain for homeowners in San Francisco.
The number of sales increased as well from 148 last year to 188 in April of 2010. This is a remarkable 27% increase in the number of single-family houses sold.
On the national level, existing-home sales were up 6.8 percent in March as buyers took advantage of favorable conditions, according to a recent report by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). Year-over-year, existing-home sales are up 16.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million units expected for 2010.
Experts believe March's lift is a sign of things to come. "Sales have been above year-ago levels for nine straight months, and inventory has trended down from year-ago levels for 20 months running," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. "The home buyer tax credit has been a resounding success as these underlying trends point to a broad stabilization in home prices. This is preserving perhaps $1 trillion in largely middle class housing wealth that may have been wiped out without the housing stimulus measure."
In March, first-time buyers were responsible for 44 percent of homes sold, with investors responsible for 19 percent of the sales, and repeat buyers responsible for the rest. Housing inventory is currently at 3.58 million units, which represents an 8.0-month supply at today's current selling pace. This is 1.8 percent lower than it was at the same time last year.
"Foreclosures have been feeding into the inventory pipeline at a fairly steady pace and are being absorbed manageably," Yun said. "In fact, foreclosures are selling quickly, especially in the lower price ranges that are attractive to first-time home buyers."