The Bay Area’s housing market posted strong gains in December, capping off a year of sharp improvement in that region’s real estate market.

Rising at its fastest rate in more than 25 years, the region’s median home price soared 32% from the same month a year prior to hit $442,750, real estate firm DataQuick reported Tuesday. That was a 1.1% increase from the month prior. The median is the point at which half the homes in the Bay Area sold for more and half for less.

The Bay Area has been one of the nation’s strongest housing markets and one of the fastest to recover from the crash. Sales increased year-over-year for the 18thmonth in a row. A total of 7,832 houses and condominiums sold last month, a 7.3% increase from November, and a 4.5% jump from December 2011.”Prices are in the midst of bouncing off bottom right now, and nobody really knows what the trajectory of this bounce will be beyond this point,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in a news release. “So far, supply has been a bottleneck, but as prices go up, more homes will be put up for sale.”

Last month’s sales count was the highest for any December since 2006. Notably, foreclosure sales accounted for just 11.8% of the market for previously owned homes last month and short sales made up only about 22.4% of that market.