Making It in the Bay

Bay Area Housing Prices and Sales Falling

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It's a paradox, but housing prices and housing sales in the Bay Area are falling.

There appear to be several factors at play with the current housing market. For one thing, rising mortgage rates make it more expensive to buy a house even as prices are starting to come down. Also, the threat of a potential recession is making many would-be homebuyers think twice about a big financial commitment.

"I believe what we're seeing is a normalizing of what was a crazy market for the last two years," Tim Yee of RE/MAX said.

Yee said fear has taken ahold of the housing market, and that's keeping some buyers on the sidelines.

"A decrease in buyers coming through open houses," he said. "Definitely where a house had 20 offers, they're now getting one or two, maybe three."

Last month, the median price of a home in the Bay Area fell by about $100,000, according to the California Association of Realtors. In California, the median price fell by about $40,000.

Scott Budman explains more in the video above.

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