Bay Area home sales continue to soar as fall approaches

Byby Leslie Brinkley KGO logo
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Bay Area home sales continue to soar as fall approaches
Home prices continue to climb in the ultra-pricey Bay Area, but is the end in sight? Real estate professionals gathered in Pleasanton to talk about the state of the market. They said this is not a bubble. It's the new normal.

Pleasanton, Calif. (KGO) -- Home prices continue to climb in the ultra-pricey Bay Area, but is the end in sight? Real estate professionals gathered in Pleasanton to talk about the state of the market. They said this is not a bubble. It's the new normal. And even though home sales traditionally slow down in the fall and through the holiday season --that's not happening this year.

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A $1 million home in Pleasanton sold in less than a week with four offers that were tens of thousands of dollars over the asking price. The president elect of the Bay East Association of realtors, Tim Ambrose, said "it's continuing to heat up. You hear buyers say I'm going to wait I think it's going to cool off. There is no Cool off. The house you could've bought yesterday, six months from now it's going to cost you an extra $50-$60,000 ."

The biggest year over year gains in the Eastbay included El Cerrito, El Sobrante , and Moraga where prices were up over 20%. More increases are expected.

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David Stark with the Bay East Association of Realtors believes the foundation of this real estate market is a very strong and sustainable job market with a limited supply of homes. He says "we can't build our way out of this one."

But that lack of building means a lack of affordable starter homes.

Real estate broker Barbara Price says "One of the biggest things I hear every day is 'I grew up here, I want to live here, I want to rent here.' But are we providing that? not right now we need to work harder at that".

Housing sales are projected to be strong through the holiday season and well into 2018.

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