Bay Area home sales, prices surging Bay Area home sales, prices surging [...] with the Bay Area real estate market on a rapid upward trajectory, Walawitch, 62, should be able to sell his three-bedroom, two-bathroom home at a decent profit. Sale prices of Bay Area homes surged in 2012 at a pace that accelerated throughout the year, according to DataQuick, a San Diego research firm. About half of the increase represents higher values, while the other half stems from fewer bargain-priced distress sales and more high-end homes changing hands. Investors jumping in"There is so much (buyer) competition for so few properties out there that people are scrambling to try to get in," he said. Correction is realPotential sellers "are getting the sense that the market has really corrected and this is a good time to make a move," said Rick Turley, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, which covers much of Northern California. [...] annual medians - which mute some of the month-to-month spikes - paint a portrait of a market where the prices that shot up during the boom and crashed during the collapse now seem on a steadier path.