California’s home sales good fortune in May certainly extended to Northern California as well. According to the California Association of Realtors, despite having the largest annual decline in existing-home sales (down 23.8 percent), the San Francisco Bay Area experienced a 30 percent month-to-month sales increase in May.
Led by San Mateo, Santa Clara and Napa, the three counties each saw sales increase by at least 31 percent compared to April 2023, with Sa Mateo experiencing a near 50 percent increase in sales.
San Francisco experienced the smallest sales increase in the Bay Area, with sales up 8.1 percent in May. The median sold price also increased sightly in San Francisco, rebounding to $1,654,000.
Elsewhere in the NorCal region, Sacramento County’s existing-home sales were up 26.1 percent from April to May, with its median sold price up more than 3 percent to $535,000. Placer County’s median sold price reached $682,500, with sales themselves up 27.4 percent.
At the regional level, all but one major region registered a dip in its median price from a year ago in May, with two regions dropping more than 10 percent year-over-year. The San Francisco Bay Area saw prices down 11.3 percent annually, followed by the Far North (down 10.6 percent), Southern California (down 5.3 percent) and the Central Valley (down 4.9 percent).
For the state as a whole, existing-home sales in the state were up 9.8 percent in May, hitting the highest level California has seen in eight months.