San Francisco-area homes sales jump nearly 39 percent

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area rose nearly 39 percent in October from a year earlier and the median home price posted a record fall as bargain hunters bought properties in markets hit hard by foreclosures, a report on Thursday said.

The median price paid for all homes in the region fell to $375,000 in October, down 40.6 percent from a year earlier, as the median price fell for an 11th consecutive month on a year-over-year basis. The median price was down 6.3 percent from September, MDA DataQuick said in its report.

A total of 7,613 new and resale houses and condominiums sold in the nine-county region last month, up 4.7 percent from September and up 38.8 percent from a year earlier, San Diego-based MDA DataQuick said.

"Inland communities continued to fuel the bulk of the Bay Area's sales gains, attracting buyers searching for the biggest discounts," the report said, with bargain hunters seizing deep price discounts in local markets hit hard by foreclosures.

"Contra Costa, Napa and Solano counties -- where prices are down sharply and sales have risen the most -- accounted for 36.4 percent of Bay Area sales in October, compared with 25.0 percent a year ago," the report said. "Sales of existing single-family houses in those counties rose 126 to 187 percent last month from a year ago."

Homes in foreclosures usually sell at a discount and are typically concentrated in more affordable neighborhoods.

In October, 44.8 percent of all existing homes sold in the San Francisco Bay area had been foreclosed on at some point in the prior 12 months, up from 41.9 percent in the prior month and 8.2 percent a year ago, according to MDA DataQuick.

Sales of foreclosed homes ranged from 10.6 percent of resales in pricey San Francisco to 68 percent in Solano County, located on the region's northeast edge and one of the region's least expensive housing markets.

"The dramatic, near free-fall in the Bay Area's median sale price in recent months stems mainly from the shift toward more sales occurring in lower-cost inland markets. At the same time, the role of foreclosures continued to grow across the region, adding more downward pressure to the median," John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president, said in a statement.

Home sales last month were strongest in Solano County, up 141.1 percent from a year earlier as the local median price dropped 38.7 percent. In nearby Contra Costa County, sales rose 86.7 percent from a year earlier while the median home price fell 46.3 percent.

In San Francisco, which is both a city and county, October home sales fell 21.3 percent from a year earlier as the median home price sagged 12.1 percent to $699,000.

(Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by Leslie Adler)