A town in San Mateo County in the northern San Francisco Bay are of California, Atherton, California, is home to a population of just over 7,000 mostly affluent residents. The city’s high-priced real estate market has struggled in the past couple of years, as the economic crisis in the U.S. has brought about job losses and decreased residents values, both of their homes and of other financial assets.

Last year, end-of-year figures showed there were 69 sales in Atherton, an improvement on 2008′s total of 63 sales. In 2009, Atherton homes for sale spent an average of 109 days on the market before selling, compared with just 49 days in 2008, showing that inventory piled up and sales were not brisk enough to keep homes off the market for long.

Prices in Atherton showed signs of a struggle too. In 2009, the average sales price was just over $3.3 million, down from over $4 million in 2008. The median price was $2.79 million in 2009, also down from the previous year’s price, which was $3.38 million. Total sales volume for the year fell as well, down by more than $15 million.

In February, prices showed improvement over 2009, however, giving signs for potential optimism for the upcoming year. The median price in February was $4.97 million, although that figure is based on just four closed sales for the month, but the figures were up as compared with January figures. In February, there were 32 homes on the market, and homes were spending an average of 229 days on the market before selling. Of homes sold in February, Atherton real estate sold received nearly 92% of listing prices.

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