TAMPA, Fla. — Bay area home prices are on the rise but the job market may be lagging in trying to keep up. 

  • Home prices up in Bay area
  • Job market, especially high-paying jobs, not keeping up with pace of home appreciation
  • 37 percent increase in $350k homes being sold

Higher home prices are good for the area's tax revenue but bad for those who can't afford anything - especially increasingly more expensive homes.

The starting price for new homes was up more than 9 percent last year as compared to 2017. And in the fourth quarter of 2018, closings were up more than 12 percent. 

But this year, home buying experts said things may go stagnant. 

In 2019, the Bay area is seeing a 37-percent increase in homes being sold in the $350,000-400,000 price range. While at the same time, a ,lack in job growth and pay increases could be a glass ceiling for first-time home buyers. 

Bay area wage growth peaked in 2018 but has now gone flat, said Alex Muellner with the Tampa Bay Business Journal. 

"That's in part because companies that want to grow are cautious because that's an expense," Muellner said. "They want to be sure that they have the revenue and the income to support that kind of investment in jobs and infrastructure."

And although companies like Amazon have increased their minimum wage to $15 an hour, there is a lack of big employers bringing in high-paying jobs in mass to the Bay area. 

So far this year, only a handful of companies have announced expansions in 2019. The biggest - Progressive Insurance expects to create 1,500 new jobs this year in the Bay area.