The median price of a home sold in the San Francisco Bay area topped $600,000 for the first time in June amid a near record month of sales, analysts said Tuesday.
The median price paid for a home in the region rose to $610,000 in June, up 18.2 percent from a year earlier and 2.5 percent from May, according to real estate information service DataQuick Information Systems.
The nine-county region recorded sales of 13,014 new and resale houses and condominiums in June, up 2.5 percent from May, but down 7.7 percent from a year earlier, DataQuick said.
"Robust demand, unchanging mortgage interest rates and a few more homes on the market are the likely factors behind the strong June numbers. We expect the rest of the summer to be like this," said DataQuick's president Marshall Prentice.
DataQuick reported Monday home prices and sales in Southern California reached new highs in June. The median price paid for a home there rose to $465,000, a gain of 14.5 percent from a year earlier and 2.0 percent from May, DataQuick said.
The company said 35,454 new and resale homes and condominiums were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in June, a rise of 2.1 percent from a year earlier and 14.8 percent from May.
Housing analysts are split over whether California is forming a housing "bubble" as home prices in the state have nearly doubled since late 2001, pulling prices up in the San Francisco Bay area even while it struggled to emerge from the long high-tech slump.
California's rising home prices have been propelled by home buyers snapping up low long-term mortgage rates and adjustable-rate and interest-only mortgage loans.
Bearish analysts say the state's housing market can not maintain its torrid rate of home price appreciation and expect it to at least plateau. Bullish analysts counter California's population is growing rapidly amid a persistent shortage of housing, which will add upward pressure to home prices.
The median home price in California will surge 16 percent to new record of $523,150 this year from 2004 and sales of existing detached single-family homes will rise 1.4 percent to 633,490 from last year's record of 624,740 sales, the California Association of Realtors forecast last month.
