Home Sales Drop In Sonoma County, Bay Area

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — As total home sales across the Bay Area's nine counties hit a nine-year low during the month of August, Sonoma County saw an increase in its median home sales price, according to new data released Thursday by financial services firm CoreLogic.

The data show that last month, 7,247 homes were sold in the Bay Area, the lowest for that month since August 2010 when just 6,698 homes were sold in the region.

In Sonoma County, 596 homes were sold in August, down 10.6 percent from August 2018 when 677 homes were sold.

"Although Bay Area home sales in August fell nearly six percent from a year earlier, the recent drop in mortgage rates likely helped temper that decline," Andrew LePage, an analyst with CoreLogic, said in a statement.

The data also showed that for the past 13 consecutive months, sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis.

"Some buyers no doubt remain parked on the sidelines, concerned about the possibility of buying near a price peak, and affordability remains a huge hurdle for many," LePage said.

The median price for homes sold in the Bay Area last month was $810,000, which is down 0.7 percent from July 2019 when the price was $816,000 and down 2.4 percent from $830,000 in August 2018, according to the data.

"Last month's 2.4 percent annual decline in the median reflects both lower home prices in some areas as well as a shift toward a lower share of sales occurring in some of the region's more expensive areas," he said.

The median price for homes sold last month in Sonoma County was $615,000, which is up 4.8 percent from July 2019 when the price was $587,000 and up 0.8 percent from $610,000 in August 2018, according to the data.

According to last month's data, Contra Costa County had the highest number of homes sold with 1,529.

Absentee buyers—mostly investors, but also second-home buyers—bought 16.9 percent of all Bay Area homes sold in August 2019. This is up from 15.9 percent in July 2019, and down from 17.1 percent in August 2018. The absentee buyer share peaked at 28.8 percent in February 2013 in the Bay Area, and since 2000, the monthly average has been 16.5 percent.

— Bay City News Service contributed to this report.