Tell Me When It's Over

Bay Area home prices hit new record
MEDIAN PRICE OF $569,000 IS NEARLY 20 PERCENT HIGHER THAN A YEAR AGO
By Sue McAllister, Mercury News

For all those waiting for any home price ``bubble'' to explode: It hasn't happened yet.
Prices of Bay Area houses rose nearly 20 percent over the 12 month period ending in February, reaching a new record median price of $569,000 paid for existing single-family houses.

	Chg. from	Median	Chg. from
County	No. sold	Feb. 04	price	Feb. 04
Alameda	934	-5.0%	$542,000	20.4%
Contra Costa	941	3.3%	$490,000	21.3%
San Francisco	246	6.0%	$701,000	14.0%
San Mateo	423	0.7%	$711,000	16.0%
Santa Clara	1,232	-3.4%	$632,000	20.4%
Santa Cruz	170	-2.9%	$720,000	30.9%
Bay Area total	4,905	-0.4%	$569,000	19.5%
Santa Clara Cty. condos	455	-1.3%	$411,000	19.1%
Bay Area condos	1,457	-7.0%	$427,000	18.9%

Of course, I left the Bay Area after 15 years... but LA home prices ain't much better. Do I still want to live here forever? Yep. It's a state of mind, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.