Napa County Housing Market Lags Region

The housing market's rebound in the Bay Area accelerated in December, when sales increased year-over-year for the 18th consecutive month. Napa County, however, didn't follow the regional trends.

The number of foreclosure in the Bay Area sales hit a five-year low, while median sale price rose a whopping 32 percent from December 2011, according to according to DataQuick's city data for December.

But the Napa County housing market wasn't as robust as the rest of the region. Unlike most other counties, the number of homes sold in Napa County in December 2012 actually declined slightly from where it was a year prior: sales volume was down 2.3 percent. The county also didn't see major increases in home prices like many other communities in the region.

A total of 129 homes were sold in Napa County in December with a median price of $350,000.

As a region, the Bay Area's housing market is on the upswing. Here are some highlights:

• The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area was $442,750 in December. That was up 1.1 percent from $438,000 in November and up 32.0 percent from $335,500 in December a year ago.
• The December median home price was the highest since August 2008 when it was $447,000.
• There were fewer "distressed property sales" (foreclosures and short sales). Foreclosure resales accounted for 11.8 percent of resales in December, the lowest number of short sales in the Bay Area since November 2007 (10.1 percent).

Here's a Bay Area breakdown of home sales and median price: 

Region wide, home sales increased by 4.5 percent and all counties had double-digit increases in median home prices. The overall Bay Area saw a 32 percent increase in median home prices from December 2011 to December 2012, according to DataQuick

“Prices are in the midst of bouncing off bottom right now, and nobody really knows what the trajectory of this bounce will be beyond this point. So far, supply has been a bottleneck, but as prices go up, more homes will be put up for sale,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Napa County home sales and median prices for November 2012:

(Note: city and county data lags a month behind the regional figures.)

Are rising home prices affecting you? What do you think this data says about the Napa County real estate market? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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