The housing market continues to heat up in the East Bay.
Home prices rose again in April as did the number of building permits being issued by cities. In addition, foreclosures are on the decline.
The website DataQuick reports the median price for all types of dwellings in the Bay Area was above $500,000 for the first time since 2008. That’s a 17 percent increase since March and a 30 percent hike from a year ago.
In Alameda County, the median sale price is now $510,000, a 36 percent increase from April 2012.
In Contra Costa County, the median sale price is $412,000, up from about $300,000 a year ago.
In Fremont, the median sales price in March was between $485,000 and $944,000, depending on which zip code the house was in. The increases ranged from 17 to 65 percent compared to a year ago.
Due to a lack of inventory, home sales have declined. In Alameda County, they were down 3 percent from a year. In Contra Costa County, the decline was 4 percent.
In Fremont, there were 178 homes sold in March, about 20 percent less than March 2012.
Meanwhile, RealtyTrac reports the number of single-family building permits nationwide increased 27 percent in the first quarter of 2013 to the highest level since 2008.
At the same, the number of foreclosure starts nationwide declined 27 percent to their lowest level since 2006.
In fact, the number of building permits issued and foreclosure starts were roughly the same for the first time since 2007.
In Fremont, 49 building permits were issued during the first three months of this year compared to 24 in the same time period last year. There were 46 foreclosure starts, compared to 189 in the first quarter of 2012.
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