UPDATE 1-San Francisco area median home price rises in May

(Adds details, comment)

SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 (Reuters) - The median price paid for a home in the San Francisco Bay area rose 12.3 percent in May from April, the second consecutive monthly gain thanks to increased sales of high-priced properties, MDA DataQuick said on Thursday.

Total home sales in the nine-county region rose 4.3 percent in May from April and 19.8 percent from a year earlier, the real estate information added in a report.

The $37,500 jump in the region's median home price from April was "due to a small but noticeable increase in sales of homes financed with home loans for more than $417,000, commonly called 'jumbo" mortgage,'" the report said. "They accounted for 25.5 percent of the bay area's home sales last month, the highest since 25.8 percent last October."

The credit crunch has severely restricted jumbo mortgages for high-priced homes, helping to push the region's median home price down from lofty levels during the housing boom earlier in the decade and down 33.9 percent in May from a year earlier.

Two years ago, more than 60 percent home purchases were financed with jumbo mortgages.

"Sales of $800,000-plus existing single-family houses rose to 13.2 percent of all house resales last month, up from 9.8 percent in April and the highest since they were 14.8 percent of sales last October," the report said.

Sales of existing houses priced below $400,000 "dropped to 57.5 percent of May sales, down from 62.2 percent in April and the lowest since 56.5 percent in November," the report added.

Improved sales of higher-priced homes suggest credit is easing, which may help halt the slide in home prices.

"We expected this to happen months ago, but better late than never. Some people are going to take this as a sign that the market has bottomed out. Maybe -- or maybe not. We won't know for at least half a year," said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.