California News Blog

Real estate experts are optimistic that the real estate in San Bruno and the surrounding Bay Area has hit bottom and is ready to rebound.  Realtors are reporting dwindling inventory of distressed properties and many communities in the Bay Area are even beginning to post year over year gains in median prices.  Although the recession of 2008 greatly deepened the real estate troubles in San Bruno, the real estate in the region was already struggling after experiencing a significant decline in sales and median prices during 2007.  However, many real estate experts still believe that the Bay Area might experience a few more slight declines in sales and/or median prices as the year comes to an end, with a full recovery not coming round till early to mid 2010.

According to DQNews.com, the Bay Area posted its first year over year gain in median sales price since 2007.  However, many communities are still struggling to sell, especially those with large inventories of luxury homes.  Currently, distressed properties and entry-level homes offering homebuyers the “bargain” prices that many are looking for are making up the vast majority of home sales in the Bay Area.  However, as the number of distressed properties for sale decreases, homebuyers are being forced to move up to the slightly more expensive homes, causing the increases in median sales prices.  The median prices for all new and resale houses and condos in the Bay Area during October rose 6.8 percent to $390,000 from $365,000 in September of 2009 and up 4 percent from $375,000 in October of 2008.  A total of 7,993 homes were sold in October, a 0.7 increase from the previous month and a 4.2 percent increase from October the year before.

The San Francisco Chronicle noted the recent success and improvements seen in the Bay Area real estate, but also noted the concern by many local real estate experts that the recent increase may not be proof that the real estate market in the area is ready for a full recovery.  Many experts believe that recovery is still a few months away, most likely sometime during the first or second quarter of 2010.  Experts also believe that the region might even experience slight declines during the next few months as the market may not have completely hit bottom.