Real estate agent Maurice Dolan places an open house sign in front of a home for sale on July 30, 2013 in San Francisco, California.

Real estate agent Maurice Dolan places an open house sign in front of a home for sale on July 30, 2013 in San Francisco, California. Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close $1 million city: S.F. median home price hits 7 figures for 1st time 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The median price paid in June for a new or existing single-family home or condo in San Francisco hit $1 million for the first time, according to a report released Wednesday by DataQuick.

It was the first time any Bay Area county hit a seven-figure median, DataQuick spokesman Andrew LePage said. The median is the price at which half of homes sold for more and half for less.

The nosebleed price is a result of limited inventory and an influx of cash buyers willing to pay whatever it takes, says Cece Doricko, a Realtor with TRI Coldwell Banker. Many are tech workers with stock compensation from an initial public offering or takeover. Realtors call them "Google kids," even if they are 40 years old and work in biotech. A secondary group of cash buyers are investors from outside the country, mostly Asia, who see San Francisco as a relative bargain.

"It's really hard to buy if you don't have cash or 50 percent down and make an offer that is non-contingent," says Doricko. She's had buyers who made the highest offer lose out because the seller asked cash buyers to come up to that price. "And they do," she says.

Appreciation slowing

There's a glimmer of hope for buyers in the DataQuick report, which shows the rate of home-price appreciation continues to slow.

For the nine-county Bay Area, the median price for homes closing in June was $618,000. That was up a scant 0.2 percent from $617,000 in May and 11.4 percent from June of last year. In June 2013, the median price rose 33.1 percent from a year earlier.

Even in stratospheric San Francisco, home prices are rising at a slower rate. "Year over year, you are up 13.3 percent," LePage said. "A year ago, you were up 23.8 percent."

Limited inventory has contributed to both soaring prices and a sales slowdown. Sales picked up a bit in June, but not much.

A total of 7,915 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 0.2 percent from 7,898 in May and also up 0.2 percent from 7,897 in June last year.

A separate report issued Tuesday by the California Association of Realtors showed that the median price paid for a single-family resale home topped $1 million in Marin and San Mateo counties for the second month in a row. The median in San Francisco was slightly less than $1 million.

The Realtors data is narrower than DataQuick's because it excludes condos, new homes and sales not entered into a Multiple Listing Service. DataQuick gets its numbers from public filings in county recorders' offices and includes homes not listed on the MLS.

Renting no easier

The cost of renting an apartment in the Bay Area, meanwhile, shows few signs of decreasing, despite a boost in supply.

The average asking rent in the nine-county Bay Area hit $2,158 per month in the second quarter - an increase of 5.6 percent from the first quarter and 10.3 percent from the second quarter of last year, according to a survey by RealFacts.

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