Valley numbers edge up as foreclosures ease off slightly

By J.N. Sbranti

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Home sales prices edged up during September throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley, providing a relatively strong finish to the traditional warm-weather selling season.

Stanislaus County homes sold for a median $140,000 last month, up $5,000 from August. Home prices in the county have been bouncing between $135,000 and $140,000 since May, according to statistics provided by MDA DataQuick.

Stanislaus homes still are selling for about 22 percent less than they were a year ago, which is one of the biggest home- value declines in California.

PDF: Home sales and median sale prices

But on a positive note, the dominance of foreclosed homes on the market has declined. Last month only 64 percent of the homes sold in Stanislaus were foreclosed properties, compared with 79 percent in February.

"As the percentage of foreclosures being resold comes down, the median price tends to stabilize," said Andrew LePage, a DataQuick analyst.

Statewide, 42 percent of the homes resold in September were foreclosures. But that percentage is far higher throughout the valley, particularly in Merced County where more than 70 percent of homes sold had been foreclosure properties.

Merced's median sales price remains among the lowest in California, just $115,000 last month. Even that was about a $5,000 increase over what Merced homes had been selling for throughout the summer.

San Joaquin County's prices also jumped in September, rising to $164,000. That was $9,000 more than August and about the same as July.

Home prices elsewhere in California increased as well. DataQuick calculated the statewide median at $251,000 in September, up $2,000 from the previous month but still down 11.3 percent from September 2008.

Last month's median Bay Area home price was $365,000.

An estimated 40,216 homes — including new and used houses and condos — sold statewide last month.

For those buying California homes in September, the typical mortgage payment they committed themselves to pay was $1,085 per month. That's less than half of what the typical mortgage cost in June 2006.

Bee staff writer J.N. Sbranti can be reached at jnsbranti@modbee.com or 578-2196.