Southern California, Bay Area Housing Markets Rebounding

Data released by CoreLogic reveals that California housing market, specifically in southern California and in the San Francisco Bay Area, saw increases in home sales in May.

The reports state that existing homes sales increased by 10.6% month-over-month in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernadino, and Orange Counties. 

While this is an increase from April, home sales are down 2.7% from 2018, and the 22,300 homes sold for the month was the lowest for that month since 21,754 were sold in May 2015.

Home sales in this region have fallen on a year-over-year basis for the last 10 months. The declines, though, have decreased and came in at under 3% in April and May after reported declines of 12% to 20% between November 2019 and March 2019.

The median price for homes sold in southern California in May 2019 was $530,000, which is a 0.4% increase from April’s $528,000, and 0.2% higher than in 2018.

Home sold in the San Francisco Bay Area saw an increase of 18.9% from April 2018, but still down 2.7% year-over-year. 

Total home sales in San Francisco in May were the lowest for that month since 8,038 were sold in May 2016. CoreLogic states sales have been declining in the double digits from November 2018 to March 2019, but May’s decline was reported at just 2.7%. 

The average price of homes sold in San Francisco in May 2019 was $860,000—a slight increase of 1.2% from April 2019.

A report by Redfin last month found that the release, and anticipated release of several IPOs, have provided a boost to the Bay Area housing market. According to the report, 35% of offers by Redfin agents in May faced a bidding war, which is up from 5% in Janaury. 

While an increase, and higher than Redfin’s national average of 16%, it is still down from 77% from May 2018.  

“Earlier this year, the San Francisco housing market appeared to be running out of gas, but the recent tech IPOs have reignited competition.” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “Buyers want to get in now before prices shoot up, while many would-be sellers are holding out for higher prices. With more people looking to buy homes than there are homes for sale, what you have is a recipe for bidding wars.”

Redfin states San Francisco was the most competitive metro in the nation in May, beating out San Diego (24%). San Francisco and San Diego were the only two metros that saw more than one-in-five offers face competition in May.