Home sales in California rose by about 3 percent from April to May and are up more than 18 percent from the same time last year, a real estate tracking firm said Thursday.
San Diego-based MDA DataQuick's data showed that the overall number of homes sold in California – 39,051 in May – has now increased on a year-over-year basis for 11 months in a row.
May's median home price was $230,000 in the state, up more than 4 percent from April. However, May's median price was down more than 32 percent from May 2008.
DataQuick said previously foreclosed properties accounted for more than 51 percent of the May home sales statewide.
In the nine-county San Francisco Bay area, home sales increased by more than 4 percent from April to May, and the price increased more than 12 percent, the firm reported. Still, May's median home price of $341,500 in a nine-county region of Northern California was almost 34 percent lower than the May 2008 median price of $517,000.
The Bay Area's April-to-May price jump was caused by an increase in more expensive home sales financed by "jumbo" mortgages, or loans of more than $417,000.
DataQuick said jumbo mortgages made up 25.5 percent of the home sales in the Bay Area last month. Two years ago, these mortgages made up 60 percent of Bay Area home sales.
The firm reported Wednesday that home prices in six Southern California counties increased nearly 1 percent from April to May for a median price of $249,000, the first month-to-month increase in nearly two years.
Homes costing more than $500,000 in Southern California also rose, from 15.2 percent of sales in April to 17 percent in May, the highest showing for such homes since October, the report said.
