 SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Home sales in California increased in April after a two year slide, according to data released by the California Association of Realtors.
Sales rose by 2.5 percent, apparently because of bargain hunters buying foreclosed properties, said the Los Angeles-based trade group. But the median home price tumbled 32 percent in April from a year earlier to $403,870.
In the San Francisco/Oakland/Fremont area, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties, prices are down 20 percent from March of last year, said the Los Angeles-based trade group. Contra Costa was the biggest drag on the statistics, it said. While making up a large percentage of the Bay Area's population, San Jose is not included in the top 20 areas of the index.
San Francisco had the second-most expensive home sales behind San Jose, with a median price of $701,700. But the city bucks the trend; sales are down, prices are up. That won't last for long, said Professor Tom Davidoff at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. He predicts prices will eventually slide in San Francisco.
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KCBS' Margie Shafer reports
