[AgindyMinnife]

It looks like good news for America, Home sales are increasing, which is a sign the economy might be on the mend.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...falling-prices

Home sales soar on falling prices
Foreclosures accounted for half of Bay Area deals in January, with median price hitting $300,000; mortgage rescue could slow trend

By MICHAEL COIT
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Friday, February 20, 2009 at 4:03 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 20, 2009 at 8:01 a.m.

Bay Area home sales soared in January while prices fell to a nine-year low as deals on foreclosure properties dominated the region's real estate market for the second straight month, according to a report released Thursday.

Buyers purchased 5,050 new and resale homes and condominiums in January, up 40.8 percent from a year ago, reported MDA DataQuick, a San Diego-based real estate information service.

With sales increasingly concentrated at lower prices, the region's median price for all homes fell to $300,000 last month, down a record 45.5 percent from a year ago.

Fueling the surge are sales in Sonoma County and other counties on the Bay Area's fringe hardest hit by a record wave of foreclosures.

Last month, 54.2 percent of all homes sold in the nine-county region had been taken back by banks at some point in the past year, up from 18.8 percent a year ago. It is the second straight month that foreclosure sales have accounted for a majority of the transactions in the Bay Area.

Solano County led the region in the number of foreclosure deals, which accounted for 75.2 percent of sales. San Francisco is least affected by foreclosures, which made up 16.4 percent of sales. In Sonoma County, foreclosed homes accounted for 55.6 percent of sales.

While sales of deeply discounted bank-owned homes have soared in recent months, it is unclear how long foreclosures will continue to dominate the Bay Area market, said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

"One of the most common questions for the real estate pundits is 'When will things get better in the housing market?'" Walsh said.

"But from the perspective of a lot of first-time buyers and investors, it's clear things have only been getting better for months," he said. "It's hard to imagine resale activity getting much stronger in many inland areas, especially if the deep discounts fade as a result of new efforts to stem foreclosures and stabilize prices."

Home sales have surged in the Bay Area as banks slash prices to get record numbers of foreclosed homes off their books, followed by sellers who can no longer afford mortgages and want to avoid losing their homes.

The flood of distressed properties at discounted prices drove down the median price to its lowest level since December 1999, when it stood at $299,000.

Homes are increasingly affordable to more households. Bay Area home buyers in January took out mortgages with a typical monthly payment of $1,297, down from $2,571 a year ago.