by Calculated Risk on 5/14/2014 02:58:00 PM

From DataQuick: Bay Area Home Prices Continue to Rise; Sales Up from March, Flat Yr/Yr

A total of 7,555 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 19.8 percent from 6,308 in March and down 0.9 percent from 7,621 in April a year ago, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Bay Area sales generally increase from March to April, but the 19.8 percent increase this year was high. The average increase is 4.8 percent. ...

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 3.6 percent of resales in April, down from a revised 4.3 percent the month before, and down from 8.4 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 17 years is 9.9 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 3.8 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 4.6 percent in March and down from 11.8 percent a year earlier.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 20.2 percent of all Bay Area homes. That was down from March’s 20.7 percent and down from 24.2 percent for April a year ago.
emphasis added

Sales declined 0.9% year-over-year in April compared to a 12.9% year-over-year decline in March.

And even though total sales were still down slightly year-over-year, the percent of non-distressed sales is up almost 15%.  There were 7,555 total sales this year in April, and 7.4% were distressed.  In April 2013, there were 7,621 total sales, and 20.1% were distressed.  A big positive change.