Silicon Valley real estate: Median house price rises in June to $600,000

Courtesy of San Jose Mercury News -

In a mixed report on the Silicon Valley real estate market, MDA DataQuick reported today that prices climbed last month in Santa Clara County, but the number of sales dropped from a year earlier.

According to MDA DataQuick, Santa Clara County's median resale single-family home price last month was $600,000 — edging up 2.6 percent from May and climbing 23.7 percent from June 2009. The number of transactions, though, dropped 8.4 percent year over year.

Throughout the Bay Area, more higher-end homes sold than a year earlier, when the market was dominated by a wave of lower-priced foreclosure sales.

"The Bay Area market is getting a boost from super-low mortgage rates and a slightly friendlier lending environment for high-end borrowers," DataQuick President John Walsh said in a statement today.
Walsh said the market has benefited from federal tax credits of as much as $8,000. However, buyers needed to enter deals by April 30 to qualify for the incentive.

In the next several months, Walsh said, "barring new government stimulus, the housing market will be relying very heavily on improvements in the economy. A lot will depend on how many people find jobs, or stop worrying about losing the one they have."

In Santa Clara County, the median condominium price was $340,000, up 17.2 percent from June 2009. The number of transactions was 0.2 percent lower.