Napa County Home Prices Up Nearly 30 Percent

Home prices keep rebounding in Napa County, though February sales were sluggish when compared to last month and last year, a real estate information service reported.

Napa County fell in line with regional and statewide real estate trends last month, which saw fewer homes sales than in February 2012, according to figures provided by DataQuick, a San Diego-based analysis service.

Sales are generally flat from January to February, according to DataQuick's analysts.

Napa County saw an 11.7 percent decline in the number of homes sold between February 2013 (91 homes) and February 2012 (103 homes). Last month's sales also are down from the 108 homes sold in January of this year.

But the median home price in Napa County also rose to $415,000 last month, a 29.7 percent increase over February 2012 and a $35,000 jump from the median sale price in the county in January.

The median price of a home sold in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area skyrocketed nearly 25 percent when comparing February 2013 to February 2012, the data showed. The median has had a double-digit year-over-year increase the last nine months, and the past four months have seen gains above 20 percent.

-3.3%

$372,000

Other interesting real estate market facts this month? DataQuick supplied these:

• The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,460. That was down from $1,479 in January, and up from $1,243 a year ago.
• The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 15.0 percent of the market, Stearns Lending with 4.0 percent, and RPM Mortgage with 3.7 percent.
• Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 13.6 percent in the Bay Area in February. That's the lowest since November 2007.

"...[W]ith a recovering economy, prices still closer to the bottom than to the top, with ultra-low mortgage interest rates and tight supply, the stage is set for price gains," said John Walsh, DataQuick president. "This spring is going to be interesting."

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