Real estate experts hold optimistic views of the Berkeley real estate market’s future, as recent months have shown promising improvements with increases in both home sales and median prices.  Despite concerns over job security and another wave of home foreclosures, activity in the Berkeley real estate market has increased in the past few months as a result of the federal tax credit and affordability of housing due to the large inventory of “bargain” priced properties that were previously foreclosed on.  Although it is unsure whether the Bay Area real estate is out of the woods and working towards a full recovery, real estate experts are hopeful that the future will continue to bring improvements.

According to DQNews.com, the Bay Area in California has posted increases in both home sales and median sales prices to top levels seen during the previous year.  In November, the median price paid for new or resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area was $387,000, a 10.6 percent increase from $350,000 in November of 2008.  November was the second month that the Bay Area has posted year-over-year gains in its median sales price, but the current median price level is still 41.8 percent below the $665,000 average posted during the peak reached in the summer of 2007.  The Bay Area also posted 6,878 new and resale house and condo sales during the month of November, which was a 19.5 percent increase from the 5,756 sales posted in November of 2008.  There was a slight dip in the sales and median price between October and November, but real estate experts aren’t concerned since the market was only following the usual market trends.

Nuwire Investor has also reported the recent improvements made in the Bay Area real estate market in terms of its median prices.  Nuwire Investor has noted that most real estate experts feel that the reduced number of foreclosures selling and greater activity in the more expensive housing markets have been the major factors in the recent increase in the median sales prices.  The year-over-year increases posted in October and November of 2009 were the first time the Bay Area has had year-over-year increases since November of 2007.

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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.

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