March 03, 2004

SFGate.com: Bay Area home prices not rising as quickly as other areas

So the Fed has released a study of housing prices nationwide that shows Bay Area home prices not rising as quickly as other areas . Fresno and Riverside, on the other hand, top the list, appreciating at about 20% in the last quarter.
Homes prices in Santa Clara County grew at one of the slowest rates in the nation during the fourth quarter of 2003, while seven other metropolitan areas in California ranked among the top 10 with the highest year- over-year gains, according to a new federal report.
House prices in other Bay Area towns also slowed, tho not as much. Alameda and Contra Costa counties slowed the least.
Seven California metropolitan areas ranked among the top 10 in year-over-year home price appreciation in the fourth quarter of 2003. The Bay Area's three biggest cities were far down the national survey of 220 cities, with San Jose finishing third from the bottom.
One thing that the article that I wasn't aware of was the two ways that housing prices are measured: DataQuick uses median house prices from recent sales. The Fed uses data from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The Fed data seems a bit more restricted (no jumbo loans) and tends to move more slowly. Right now, they disagree about how the Bay Area housing market is performing
Still, some homeowners' experiences suggest that prices may be stagnating, in line with the federal agency's results. Financial adviser Dan Goldie purchased his Palo Alto home for about $1.1 million in April 2002. Since then, he and his wife, Karole, have refinanced three or four times.
Posted by dapkus at March 3, 2004 08:44 AM | TrackBack