Bay Area home sales climbed nearly 30 percent from March to April, the first monthly gain in half a year as financing became easier to secure and shoppers took advantage of bargains, according to a research firm.
From a year ago, however, sales were still down 15.3 percent, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla (San Diego County).
There were month-over-month sales increases in February, March, May and October of last year, none of which presaged an overall strengthening of the market.
Across the nine county area, 6,310 new and resale houses and condos traded hands last month, up 28.8 percent from March. The median prices fell to $518,000, down 3.4 percent from March and 21.4 percent from April 2007.
In San Francisco, sales of all housing types increased 6.5 percent from a year ago to 605. The median fell 5.1 percent to $750,000, the smallest percentage decline in the region. The largest annual price decline was in Contra Costa County, where the median fell 34.2 percent to $395,000, even as sales inched up 1.5 percent to 1,265.
The median indicates that half the homes sold for more than that amount, half for less.
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