The market for homeowners looking to sell

The market for homeowners looking to sell

Melissa Morris put her Haight-Ashbury flat on the market in mid-September. It was priced right and she accepted an offer of $825,000 within days.

The contractor’s inspection was set for Sept. 29 and as the buyer toured the home, the stock market was in the midst of its historic meltdown. The Dow Jones industrial average would ultimately drop 777.68 points that day, setting a record for the worst point drop in its history.

The buyer’s stock portfolio took a hit and he walked away from the deal. Though the buyer ultimately came back, Morris agreed to a lower sale price of $815,000.

Volatility in the stock market, falling home prices and tightening credit markets mean that the lousy times for Bay Area home sellers roll on. The median price for a home or condo in San Francisco fell 12.7 percent to $675,000 in September from $773,500 a year earlier, according to MDA DataQuick. At the same time, the number of homes sold inside San Francisco’s city limits held steady in September, while foreclosures helped that number increase 45 percent across the Bay Area’s nine counties.