Home sales drag across U.S., while Bay Area is nation’s hottest market

Home sales this spring have been dragging in preponderance U S housing markets compared to last March dipping nationwide But of program the Bay Area s housing arena has never been like the rest of the country s In March the region posted the biggest leap in annual home sales in the U S highlighting the relentless demand among buyers despite the economic uncertainty that has dulled enthusiasm elsewhere Related Articles Taves Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is paving California s road to hell California lawmakers push new bill to tighten rent control Elias Berkeley s ADU amnesty undertaking may set example for other cities California Democrats take aim at renter late fees ability bills with affordability package Is San Jose making progress on homelessness or are particular of its wins superficial Sales of existing single-family home sales rose in San Jose in Oakland and in San Francisco the highest gain among metro areas in the country according to in the last few days distributed material from Redfin The Bay Area with its strong economic activity is not as vulnerable to high mortgage rates or region fluctuations commented Daryl Fairweather chief economist at Redfin the online real estate brokerage The boost in sales comes as hundreds of sellers decided to list in March raising inventory across the Bay Area by from last year New listings rose in Oakland in San Jose and in San Francisco That s despite high interest rates which have hovered around and kept homeowners from wanting to give up their pandemic-era interest rates to move The lock-in effect is in the end starting to wear off Fairweather stated The increase in available homes has kept prices steady in much of the Bay Area according to the California Association of Realtors The median sales price in March rose just from last year to million The median price was in Contra Costa County million in Alameda County million in Marin County million in San Francisco million in Santa Clara County and million in San Mateo County Santa Clara with its booming artificial intelligence industry had the biggest price gains of those six counties increasing from last year The increase in inventory means that sellers need to be strategic about their marketing to stand out from the crowd revealed Elena Licardi a broker with Coldwell Banker based in Los Gatos There are more options out there right now she commented You ve got to make sure your home looks good and is priced to get a lot of activity The Bay Area condo domain was also up sales increased and the median price rose to Lars Pave was one of those buyers who conclusively pulled the trigger this spring after saving nearly two decades for a down payment An exterior view of Lars Pave s three-bedroom townhome in the Sequoyah Heights neighborhood in Oakland Calif on April Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group Pave a -year old digital marketer and his wife had begun searching during the pandemic but were turned off by rampant bidding wars that pushed prices far over asking and meant homes sold in just days This spring s field was notably calmer The listing they saw for a three-bedroom three-bathroom home in the Oakland hills had sat for four months without a buyer Pave took that as an invitation to come in with a lower initial offer Their bid of was under asking but it won the house Looking back they regret a missed chance to lock in a lower interest rate even if it would have meant paying more We were waiting for the area to soften up and that was a mistake Pave disclosed With a interest rate they had less spending power than they would have had five years ago We should have bid higher and gotten in with the low rates instead of settling for less now But you never know these things in the moment Multiple buyers find themselves in a similar situation The interest rate on a -year fixed-rate mortgage started off the year at and barely budged according to Freddie Mac Related Articles Taves Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is paving California s road to hell California lawmakers push new bill to tighten rent control Elias Berkeley s ADU amnesty operation may set example for other cities California Democrats take aim at renter late fees ability bills with affordability package Is San Jose making progress on homelessness or are certain of its wins superficial It s a disappointment for both buyers and agents who had hoped that the Federal Reserve might lower interest rates this year But Fed chairman Jerome Powell has indicated that he won t lower rates anytime soon especially as he waits to see how Trump s tariffs and other economic policies play out Still it s clear that mortgage rates aren t stopping buyers Buyers have had time to recalibrate to interest rates disclosed Ricky Flores an agent with Golden Gate Sotheby s International Realty based in Menlo Park Now they re stepping back out onto the sphere and making offers Several buyers in the Bay Area aren t even reliant on a mortgage in San Francisco of buyers bought in all cash and in San Jose it was according to Redfin Homes are still selling swiftly Single-family homes spent a median time of just days on the region in the Bay Area the least amount of time for any region in California Still that number varies from county to county homes in Santa Clara County sold in a median of eight days whereas they spent days on the arena in Marin County Fairweather the Redfin economist mentioned that return-to-office policies among Silicon Valley tech companies are driving the stronger realm in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties Bay Area white-collar workers are spending about three days a week in the office latest survey records shows