Bay Area home prices set record, sort of

Bay Area home prices set record, sort of

The median price paid for Bay Area homes set a nominal record of $686,000 in April, but when adjusted for inflation fell short of the 2007 peak of $665,000, according to data released Wednesday by CoreLogic.

Home buyers spent $500,000 or more in about 70 percent of April home sales.

“It’s no surprise that in a month when the San Francisco Bay Area’s median home sale price hit a record high the region also logged a year-over-year decline in sales, which remained well below the long-term average,” CoreLogic research analyst Andrew LePage said in a statement.

Low mortgage rates, job growth and other drivers have stoked demand, but the supply of homes for sale — especially in the low-to-middle price ranges — hasn’t kept pace, leaving many would-be buyers struggling with a thin and increasingly expensive inventory.