Bay Area housing market slow in February

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The Bay Area’s housing market couldn’t shake off a slump in February with sales flat and prices falling.

The region’s median home price of $337,250 was down 0.2% from the month before and down 4.7% from February 2010, according to San-Diego based DataQuick Information Services. The median has fallen year-over-year for five consecutive months after 12 months of annual gains.

Home sales were up 0.5% from January but down 0.9% from February 2010. A total of 4,991 newly built and previously owned houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month.

Distressed sales -- foreclosures and so-called short sales, where a bank allows a troubled borrower to sell a home for less than the outstanding mortgage debt -- accounted for just over half of the Bay Area’s resale market last month.

-- Alejandro Lazo