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Bay Area Home Sales Suffer June Swoon

FREMONT (KPIX) -- Bay Area home sales in June were the lowest for that month in 11 years, according to the latest data from CoreLogic.

"I think that people are going to look at that data and think the sky is falling but it is not, the sky is not falling," said real estate broker Nancie Allen. "We're not in the same place we were back in 2007, where we had all the bad loans and everything else, that's what created that. This is just an adjustment."

Allen, who is also president of Bay East Association of Realtors, tells us that last year's red-hot real estate market, particularly in the East Bay, hasn't been able to sustain itself. Overall, there are more homes on the market and prices have slumped a bit. Still, there is plenty of activity but the market is more gentle.

In the East Bay, Allen says Fremont, Pleasanton and Alameda remain strong markets.

The Lakharas were busy moving into their new home Friday evening. They are first time home buyers and closed on a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom town home in Fremont at $790,000. They paid $25,000 dollars over asking.

"It's about the locality as such so Fremont is between San Francisco and San Jose. From a work perspective, I can always go to San Francisco or San Jose wherever I work," said homeowner Nathan Lakhara.

Allen says the home sold in a week and received three offers -- a sign of a healthy market.

CoreLogic says that, despite low mortgage rates and a strong economy, Bay Area home sales this June dropped nearly 13 percent below June 2018 sales.

"Last year was a frenzy ... and people were jumping in and getting whatever they could. This year buyers are much more relaxed, more calm, they're going in, they're looking at the property," said Allen. "If they really love it then they're going to put an offer in, otherwise they're being more particular."

The inventory level in the Bay Area has gone from a seller's market to a more neutral market, according to CoreLogic.

"This was within our budget so we went for it. We just hope prices don't drop anymore because now we have a house," said Lakhara.

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