Located about an hour north of San Francisco, the city of Santa Rosa lies at the northern end of the Bay Area. Despite the real estate struggles faced by many real estate markets throughout California since 2007, the economic recession that began in the fall of 2008 only worsened the situation, causing foreclosure rates to rocket upwards, median prices to slide, and real estate activity to stall. The financial stability of California and the concern for job security have also been major obstacles slowing the recovery of the Santa Rosa real estate, as well as that of the entire Bay Area real estate market. However, real estate experts have seen promising signs over the past few months with increasing median prices and a pick up in home sales, providing optimistic views of the Santa Rosa real estate market and suggesting that recovery is near.

According to DQNews.com, the Bay Area real estate has posted major improvements over the past several months, resulting in the first year over year gains in home sales and median prices seen in months. The median price for new and resale houses posted during the month of November was $387,000, a slight drop from the $390,000 level posted during the previous months, but still up 10.6 percent from the $350,000 seen during November of 2008. Home sales also rose over the past several of months, with a total of 6,878 new and resale houses and condos sold in November, down 13.3 percent from the previous month, but up 19.5 percent from the previous year. Real estate experts aren’t worried about the slight drop between October and November though, because historical data trends have shown the decline to be normal. Experts believe that the dwindling inventory of foreclosed or distressed properties have been the major cause for the increase in median sales prices, and the federal tax credit is believed to have played a major role in the recent uptick in home sales.

The North Bay Business Journal has also reported that there are promising signs for the commercial real estate market in the North Bay area. Many real estate experts believe the market has already hit bottom, so the only direction it can go in is up. The affordability of office space has allowed vacancy rates to stabilize as landlords take extra measures to keep their tenants happy. Experts have also noted that stabilizing unemployment rates have also played a major role in the recent improvements made in the commercial real estate market.

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