Bay area housing bubble going strong

SJMercuryNews: The numbers say it all: Between February and March, the median price for a single-family house jumped $36,000, or 6.3 percent. Over the last 12 months, it soared $106,000, or 21 percent, hitting $605,000 in March.

That appreciation far exceeded the $74,124 that the typical Bay Area household earned last year, according to Economy.com.

Numbers are for existing single-family houses in the nine counties. February to March 2005, median price and percent change.

BAY AREA $605,000 +21.2%
MARIN $918,000 +22.4%
NAPA $551,000 +15.5%
SAN FRANCISCO $746,000 +14.9%
SAN MATEO $790,000 +22.9%
SONOMA $528,000 +21.9%
ALAMEDA $565,000 +20.2%
CONTRA COSTA $535,000 +28.9%
SANTA CLARA $665,000 +17.9%
SOLANO $405,000 +22.7%

Source: DataQuick