Dec 2012 California Median Home Prices

he statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home climbed 5 percent from November’s $349,300 median price to $366,930 in December. December’s price was up 27 percent from a revised $288,950 recorded in December 2011, marking the tenth consecutive month of annual price increases and the sixth consecutive month of double-digit annual gains. The substantial increase in price was due in large part to a significant increase of higher-priced properties, while inventory constraints continued to constrict sales of lower-priced homes.

For the overall San Francisco Bay Area, the median price was $598100, which is 1.6% higher than prior month's $588800,and 31.2% higher than the same period last year of $455750.

Other key facts of C.A.R.’s December 2012 resale housing report include:

• California’s housing inventory was further constrained in December, with the Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes dropping to 2.6 months, down from 3.1 months in November and a revised 4.3 months in December 2011. The index indicates the number of months needed to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate. A six- to seven-month supply is considered normal.

• The 30-year fixed-mortgage interest rate averaged 3.35 percent during December 2012, unchanged from November, but down from 3.96 percent in December 2011, according to Freddie Mac. However, adjustable-mortgage interest rates edged down in December, averaging 2.54 percent, down from 2.57 percent in November and down from 2.79 percent in December 2011.

• The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home edged up to 38.1 days in December 2012 from 37.5 days in November but was down from 58.7 days for the same period a year ago.

Click here for more analysis and summary of regional sales and price activity, as well as median price in each county. If you are interested in finding out the median price and sales data for a particular neighborhood or city, please send me an email to meimei@calMBArealty.com to let me know.

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