North Bay home sales decline, except in Marin

North Bay home sales data

Marin County

March sales: 263

April sales: 320, +21.7%

Median price: $1,035,500 +11.3%

Napa County

March sales: 146

April sales: 101, -30.8%

Median price: $625,000, +4.6%

Sonoma County

March sales: 535

April sales: 514, -3.9%

Median price: $568,000, +2.3%

Solano County

March sales: 620

April sales: 590, -4.8%

Median price: $392,000, +2.4%

Source: CoreLogic

North Bay home sales dipped in April, the real estate analytics firm CoreLogic reported, with Marin County barely bucking the trend.

Sales declined over 12 months by 19.2 percent in Napa County, 10.6 percent in Sonoma County and 5 percent in Solano County. Marin County was up, but by just 1.9 percent year-over-year.

Compared with March of this year, Marin also saw large increases. The number of homes sold in that county in March was 263, the report stated, reaching 320 homes sold in April (up 21.7 percent). The median sale price in April was just more than $1 million or 11.3 percent higher than March.

Results in the other counties of the North Bay in the past two months presented a different picture.

In Napa County, home sales dropped 30.8 percent from March to April (146 to 101), while the median sale price rose 4.6 percent to $625,000. Sonoma County's decline was smaller, 3.9 percent (535 to 514), and the median sales price per home in April was $568,000 (up 2.3 percent).

Solano County home sales declined 4.8 percent (620 to 590), while the median price inched up 2.4 percent to $392,000, the report stated.

For the entire Bay Area, absentee buyers, mostly investors, bought 16.4 percent of all homes sold in April, according to CoreLogic. That was down from 18.1 percent in March and 16.7 percent in April 2016. The absentee-buyer share peaked at 28.4 percent in February 2013, and the monthly average since 1988 was approximately 15 percent.

Jumbo mortgages accounted for 37.8 percent of the total number of home purchase loans used in the San Francisco Bay Area in April, up from 34.6 percent in March and 34.5 percent in April 2016.

Jumbo mortgages also represented 59.8 percent of the total dollar volume of all home purchase originations in April, up from 55.3 percent in March and 56.9 percent in April 2016.

Jumbo mortgages are loans that exceed the conforming loan limit, which is set by regulation and varies by county. Nationally, the base conforming loan limit for single-family homes this year is $424,100, but high-cost areas, including most of the San Francisco Bay Area, had higher limits of up to $636,150.

A rise in the jumbo mortgage share of home purchase loans can be related to higher home prices, an increase in the share of sales occurring in the market's higher end or the greater availability of funding for jumbo loans.'

North Bay home sales data

Marin County

March sales: 263

April sales: 320, +21.7%

Median price: $1,035,500 +11.3%

Napa County

March sales: 146

April sales: 101, -30.8%

Median price: $625,000, +4.6%

Sonoma County

March sales: 535

April sales: 514, -3.9%

Median price: $568,000, +2.3%

Solano County

March sales: 620

April sales: 590, -4.8%

Median price: $392,000, +2.4%

Source: CoreLogic

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