Bay Area housing market holds its ground in April

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The Bay Area’s housing market held steady in April, with prices rebounding from year-earlier levels but sales falling slightly, a real estate research firm reported Thursday.

With more sales of homes occurring in pricier coastal areas, the median price was $370,000 for all homes sold in April, an increase of 21.7% from the same month in 2009 but down 2.6% from $380,000 in March, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.

A total of 7,003 homes sold last month, down 1.9% from 7,139 in April 2009 and a 0.2% increase from 6,992 sold in March, DataQuick said.

The sales tally was the second lowest for an April since 1995.

Some sales may have been delayed as buyers try to grab a state tax credit of up to $10,000 that went into effect May 1. The credits are for buyers of new homes or first-time buyers.

“It’s not clear how many April sales might have been pushed into May or June by tax credits. The bigger picture is that the housing market will gradually be decoupled from government stimulus and be on its own again,” MDA DataQuick President John Walsh said.

“For months we’ve seen growing signs of a recovery taking hold. But plenty of challenges remain, like high unemployment, the possibility of many more distressed properties hitting the market in a rising interest rate environment, and a dysfunctional jumbo loan market, which is a big deal in the Bay Area.”

On Tuesday, MDA DataQuick reported that Southern California’s median price in April was $285,000, up 15.4% from the April 2009 bottom, when foreclosures accounted for more than half of the resale market. The median price was unchanged from March. Southern California sales fell for the first time in 22 months, to 20,299 properties. That was down about 1% from April 2009 and from the prior month.

-- Alejandro Lazo