San Francisco Real Estate - Janice Lee

    More “green shoots” sprung up for the nation’s housing market this week. On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose in April and remain above year-ago levels, and home prices nationwide continued to rise as well. And on Wednesday, the Commerce Department said that sales of new homes rose 3.3 percent in April from March to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 343,000. That was slightly more than what most analysts had expected.   Both reports are just the latest in a recent string of reports that suggest a housing recovery is finally taking hold across the U.S. We’ve certainly seen a good turnaround in many parts of the Bay Area for some time now. But the recovery has been more tepid in some other parts of the country, so these reports come as very encouraging news for the housing market as a whole. The improving existing home sales and prices were across all regions of the U.S., NAR pointed o...

Bay Area home sales increased last month to their highest level for an April since 2006. The median sale price rose year-over-year for the first time in 19 months, reaching its highest point since September 2010 amid indications that market stress is easing and fence-sitters are moving to take advantage of lower prices and ultra-low mortgage rates, a real estate information service reported. A total of 7,675 new and resale homes sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was virtually unchanged from 7,694 the prior month, and up 13.1 percent from 6,789 in April a year ago.  Last month’s sales were the strongest for an April since 2006, when 9,129 homes sold. Since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics start, April sales have varied from 6,310 in 2008 to 14,430 in 2004. The average is 9,088. “It appears that the market is taking a step in the direction of normalization, but only a step. We’re still watching technical indicators more than top-line sales...