August Home Sales Up Year-Over-Year; Down From July

August sales of Bay Area homes dropped more than 10 percent from July, but were up nearly 5 percent from a year ago, data from research firm CoreLogic shows.

Sales of new and existing condominiums and homes in the nine-county Bay Area totaled 8,062 in August, down from 9,130 in July, but up from 7,718 in August 2014, according to CoreLogic. The year-over-year gain in August was the smallest increase since sales started to rise in March, CoreLogic officials said.

“In August the housing market couldn’t maintain the higher sales pace of June and July when activity rose to nine- and ten-year highs, respectively,” CoreLogic research analyst Andrew LePage said in a statement.

“August experienced only a two-year high for sales.”

August home prices in the Bay Area dropped slightly from July, but were more than 5 percent above August 2014 prices, CoreLogic data show. The median price for all homes sold in the Bay Area in August was $650,000, down 1.3 percent from July’s $658,500, but up 6.2 percent year-over-year from $612,000, data show.

The August figure is only 2.3 percent below the peak of $665,000 in June and July 2007, according to CoreLogic.

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“The slowdown in sales likely reflects a tighter inventory of homes for sale and an even lower level of affordability,” LePage said in a statement.

“But one month doesn’t make a trend, and this year’s three summer months combined - June, July and August - represent the highest sales for that period since 2006.”

CoreLogic defines the Bay Area as the counties of Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Sonoma, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Napa.

-Bay City News