Bay Area home prices slip for 24th month in a row

By Tamara Barak, Bay City News Service

February 16, 2007, 12:34 a.m.

Bay Area homes have slipped to their lowest level in a year-and-a-half, a real estate information service reported Thursday.

Home sales in the area have been steadily falling for 24 months, analysts at DataQuick Information Services said.

In January, 6,168 homes were sold in the nine counties of the Bay Area - down 26.3 percent from December and down 4.1 percent from January of 2005, DataQuick reported.

While a decline from December to January is typical in home sales, last month's sales were the lowest for any January since 1996.

In addition, the median price of a Bay Area home fell from $618,000 in December to $601,000 in January.

Analysts said that indicators of market distress are still at a moderate level and financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is declining slightly. While foreclosures are rising, they are still in the normal range, DataQuick reported.

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