San Mateo County Home Prices Up Nearly One-Third

Home prices keep rebounding in San Mateo County, though February sales did not increase when compared to last month or last year, a real estate information service reported.

The county fell in line with regional and statewide real estate trends last month, which saw fewer homes sales than in February 2012, according to figures provided by DataQuick, a San Diego-based analysis service.

San Mateo County experienced a 16.5 percent drop in the number of homes sold between February 2013 (414 homes) and February 2012 (496 homes). But more homes were sold in Marin County in February than in January of this year, when 142181 houses traded hands.

Sales are generally flat from January to February, according to DataQuick's analysts.

But while sales were sluggish, the median home price in San Mateo County rose to $635,000 last month, a 28.9 percent increase over February 2012 and a near $30,000 jump from the median sale price in the county in January.

The median price of a home sold in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area skyrocketed nearly 25 percent when comparing February 2013 to February 2012, the data showed. The median has had a double-digit year-over-year increase the last nine months, and the past four months have seen gains above 20 percent.

-3.3%

$372,000

Other interesting real estate market facts this month? DataQuick supplied these:

• The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,460. That was down from $1,479 in January, and up from $1,243 a year ago.
• The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 15.0 percent of the market, Stearns Lending with 4.0 percent, and RPM Mortgage with 3.7 percent.
• Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 13.6 percent in the Bay Area in February. That's the lowest since November 2007.

"...[W]ith a recovering economy, prices still closer to the bottom than to the top, with ultra-low mortgage interest rates and tight supply, the stage is set for price gains," said John Walsh, DataQuick president. "This spring is going to be interesting."

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