Sonoma Co. Median Home Sale Price Reaches All-Time High: Report

SONOMA COUNTY, CA -- The median price paid for homes and condos in Sonoma County and two other Bay Area counties – Alameda and Santa Clara – climbed to new all-time highs in June, as did the median for the overall region, real estate data service CoreLogic stated in a news release Wednesday. The median price paid for all homes sold in eight Bay Area counties in June set a record high of $735,000, up 1.4 percent from the previous record median price of $725,000 in May, according to CoreLogic. The $735,000 median price in June was up 7.5 percent from June 2016 when the median price was $683,750.

According to CoreLogic, Sonoma County's median home sale price of $588,500 in June was an 11-percent increase from $530,000 in June 2016. Last month, 659 homes changed hands in June in Napa County -- a 1.6-percent decrease from the 670 homes sold during the same month last year but a 7-percent increase from the 616 homes sold in May 2017. The median home sale price in Napa County also rose when compared to May 2017, reaching $588,500 -- a 5.1-percent month-over-month increase.

On a year-over-year basis, the Bay Area median sale price has risen for 63 consecutive months since April 2012, according to CoreLogic.

"Adjusted for inflation, the region's $735,000 June median remained 7 percent below the peak reached more than a decade ago; however, the go-go market of 2003 through 2006 relied very heavily on risky financing and, therefore, might not be the most meaningful period for comparison," said CoreLogoic research analyst Andrew Lepage said. "In inflation-adjusted terms, this June's San Francisco Bay Area median sale price was 31 percent higher than the region's median 15 years ago, in June 2002, before the market entered a more heated phase."

Home sales of $500,000 or more accounted for nearly 75 percent of all sales in June, according to CoreLogic.

"While job growth, low mortgage rates, consumer confidence and other factors have helped fuel housing demand, tight inventory remains the primary driver of price gains," LePage said.

LePage said despite the tight housing inventory, the Bay Area is quickly burning through its supply of homes for sale.

San Francisco County had the highest median sale price of $1,250,000 in June followed by Marin County's $1,080,050 median price.

Solano County's June median sales price of $400,000 was the lowest among the eight counties.

Median sale prices increased by double digits between June 2016 and June 2017 in five Bay area counties led by Marin County's 13.7 percent increase.

Absentee buyers, most of them investors, bought 16 percent of all homes sold in June, according to CoreLogic.

Data from San Mateo County were not available for the June 2017 report, according to CoreLogic.

The real data service also noted that government-insured Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans accounted for 8.9 percent of home purchase loans in the San Francisco Bay Area in June 2017, up from 8.5 percent in May 2017 and down from 11.4 percent in June 2016. Low-down-payment FHA loans accounted for a substantially higher share of home purchase loans in the more affordable stretches of the Bay Area. For example, Solano County had the highest FHA share in June 2017 at 26.4 percent, followed by Contra Costa County at 15.8 percent and Napa County at 10.7 percent, according to CoreLogic.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

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