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By , June 19, 2010 8:16 pm

The Brea real estate market, a portion of the larger Orange County real estate market, continued to have serious problems with mortgage delinquency and foreclosure despite relatively stable housing prices. According to a June 7, 2010 article from the Orange County Register, “According to CoreLogic’s latest late-mortgage report, 8.40% of Orange County home-loan borrowers as of April are 90 days-plus late with their house payments. That’s +2.60 percentage points vs. a year ago.” The piece, written by Jon Lansner, continued to state that “2.37% of Orange County homes were in the foreclosure process, +0.15 percentage points vs. a year earlier. 0.35% of Orange County homes were repossessed by banks as REO (real estate owned); -0.10 percentage points vs. a year earlier. Orange County’s 90-day delinquency rate is -3.20 percentage points vs. the state’s slow-pay rate and -0.50 percentage points vs. national pace.”

The average sales price of a Brea home for sale rallied along with the rest of Orange County in the month of April. According to a May 18, 2010 piece from the OC Metro, “Orange County saw gains in its median home price and sales activity in April, compared to the same time last year, according to a new report from MDA DataQuick.” The article, written by Kristen Schott, went on to state that “The county’s median home price hit $430,000 last month, up 13 percent from $380,000 in April 2009. But, the price dipped slightly from March, when the median reached $432,000. For the six-county Southern California region, which includes Orange, L.A., San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura, the median rose 15 percent to $285,000 in the period, compared to April 2009. The number was unchanged from March.”

Compared to last month, however, the median home price in the Brea and Orange County real estate markets, declined slightly. According to a May 18, 2010 article in the Orange County Business Journal, “Orange County’s median home price edged down $2,000 in April from March, but still stands $50,000 higher than the prices seen here a year ago. The median price of a home sold here in April was $430,000, a less than 1% drop from a month earlier, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Detwiller and Associates.”

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By , June 18, 2010 8:12 pm

The Rancho Santa Fe real estate market, a part of the larger San Diego and Southern California housing markets, showed some signs of recovery and a few specific strengths in the first half of 2010. According to a May 17, 2010 article from the San Diego Union Tribune, “Southern California home prices remained flat from March to April, as sales shifted into May for tax-credit reasons, MDA DataQuick reported Tuesday. The median price for the six-county region was $285,000, an increase of 15.4 percent from April 2009.” The piece by Roger Showley went on to say that “As reported Monday, San Diego County’s median price slipped to $325,250, from $330,000 in March, but was up 12.2 percent from April 2009’s $290,000. Prices followed the same pattern in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties – down from March but up from April 2009.”

A May 27, 2010 article in SDNN focused on the continued year-over-year rise in Rancho Santa Fe and other San Diego homes for sale. The piece noted that “In this volatile – and frequently gloomy – housing market, San Diego stands out as a metropolitan city with continued home prices, says a Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday.” The article, composed by Anne Subramanian, went on to state that “The study highlighted that despite many metropolitan cities reporting new index lows, San Diego boasts an eleven-month streak of increasing home prices. Of the 20 national metropolitan cities studied, San Diego’s 10.8 percent increase in home prices since March 2009 is only surpassed by San Francisco’s 16.2 percent increase. Housing prices climbed by 1.5 percent in San Diego between February and March of this year while the national trend reflects a .5 percent decrease.”

This same positive news for the previously ailing Rancho Santa Fe housing market was reported in a May 25, 2010 article from The Voice of San Diego. This article by Kelly Bennett went on to note that “There’s no doubt housing prices have come roaring back this year. New numbers released this morning showed San Diego County home prices rose again in March – marking the 11^th straight month they’ve been headed up.”

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By , June 17, 2010 7:37 pm

The Morgan Hill real estate market, a subsidiary of the larger Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz housing markets, saw a slight decline in some sectors in April, despite the nationwide trend towards recovery. According to a May 20, 2010 article from the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, “Bay Area home sales fell slightly below the year-ago level and remained well below average in April, according to a report Thursday by MDA DataQuick. In April a total of 7,003 homes closed escrows in the nine-county Bay Area, up 0.2 percent from 6,992 in March but down 1.9 percent from 7,139 in April 2009.” The piece went on to state that “The median price in Santa Clara County in April was $489,000, up 20.70 percent from April 2009’s median of $405,000. There were 1,656 sales, up from the year-ago period’s 1,606 sales.”

The relative strength of home prices in Morgan Hills and other portions of Santa Clara County can be at least partially attributed to lower interest rates. According to a June 3, 2010 press released from the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, “Record-low interest rates continue to fuel the Santa Clara County housing market, boosting home prices and spurring brisk sales. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.78 percent with 0.7 point for the week ending May 27, down from the previous week when it averaged 4.84 percent, according to Freddie Mac.” The piece, composed by SCCAOR President Karl Lee, went on to say that “Rock-bottom interest rates and lower housing prices make homes more affordable than they have been in years. In Santa Clara County, multiple offers are common and many properties are snapped up within a few days.”

The Morgan Hills real estate market, along with the larger Bay Area, saw a shift towards foreclosures on more expensive properties in the most recent tracking period. According to a June 1, 2010 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Foreclosures are going upscale across the Bay Area. Nearly 1,000 homes valued above $730,000 were repossessed by banks in the nine-county region in each of the past two years, according to a Chronicle review of public records compiled by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego research firm.”

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By , June 13, 2010 7:12 pm

Despite a decrease in sales volume, the Millbrae real estate market is showing mostly signs of strength, such as a fall in foreclosures and a higher median sales price. According to a May 20, 2010 article from Reuters, “Home sales in the nine-county San Francisco region continued to shift toward its more expensive markets in April, reducing overall sales and lifting the area’s median sales price from year-earlier levels, a report by MDA DataQuick said on Thursday.” The piece went on to state that “The region posted 7,003 sales of houses and condominiums in April, up 0.2 percent from March and down 1.9 percent from a year earlier, while the area’s median home price last month of $370,000 marked a decline of 2.6 percent from March and an increase of 21.7 percent from a year earlier, the report by the real estate information service said.”

The average purchase price of a Millbrae home for sale jumped in the month of April, along with the median price in the rest of the Bay Area. According to a May 21, 2010 article from the San Francisco Chronicle, “Median resale home prices in the Bay Area rose 30 percent in April compared with the prior year, in a market that featured fewer foreclosures and more activity in higher end neighborhoods, according to a real estate report released Thursday.” The piece, written by Robert Selna, went on to say that “Meanwhile, the total number of homes resold in the Bay area – that is, not newly constructed – fell slightly year-over-year as the higher-priced sales activity could not offset declines in the more affordable areas, according to data analyzed by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego real estate research firm that produces monthly market updates.”

The number of distressed mortgages in nearby markets such as East Bay declined in the month of May, a development that should decrease negative pressure on Millbrae real estate. According to a June 10, 2010 article from the Contra Costa Times, “Default notices – the first step in the foreclosure process – fell by about half in the East Bay during May from a year ago as more homeowners opted for short sales…In the Bay Area – which RealtyTrac.com defines as Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties – a total of 2,230 homeowners received a notice of default, down 38.9 percent from a year ago.”

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By , May 14, 2010 2:12 am

The Palo Alto real estate market is very closely related to the greater Bay Area real estate market, and seems to be showing some signs of improvement. According to a March 11, 2010 article from ABC 7 News, “For the first time in a long time, some of the Bay Area’s hardest hit counties are seeing their foreclosure numbers drop compared with last year. In San Joaquin County, foreclosure filings have dropped 42 percent since February 2009; in Alameda, foreclosure filings are down 16 percent and in Contra Costa County, filings are down 3 percent.” In the words of Elaine Brooks-Cox, a foreclosure contractor with Pacific Community Services, “Just recently we’ve seen a small slowdown. Our inventory for foreclosure inventory and short-sale inventory and a short-sale inventory in the local 680 corridor is down; we’re seeing probably a decrease by as much as 60 percent over what it was last year.”

Home prices are another bright spot for Palo Alto homes for sale, according to a  March 18, 2010 online article from the Los Angeles Times. The article stated that “The median price paid for a Bay Area home jumped 20% in February as fewer foreclosures were on the market, the San Diego research firm MDA DataQuick said Thrusday. Sales fell for the second month in a row. Potential buyers had trouble securing financing, were concerned about job security or had a difficult time competing for a home as inventory tightened, DataQuick said.” According to John Walsh, the President of DataQuick, “The market remains fundamentally off kilter. There’s still relatively little lending going on in the upper price ranges, and little adjustable-rate financing, which have been vital to the Bay Area.”

One possible negative influence on Palo Alto real estate for sale was negative news regarding home sales. According to a March 19, 2010 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, “The volume of Bay Area home sales dipped in February compared with a year ago, while the median price continued to rise, according to a real estate report released on Thursday…A total of 3,582 existing single-family homes changed hands in the nine-county region in February…”

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By , May 6, 2010 2:17 am

The Beverly Hills real estate market, traditionally among the most expensive and prestigious in the country, has been recovering strongly from the aftermath of the economic recession. According to an April 13, 2010 article in the Associated Press, “The median home price in Southern California rose 14 percent last month from March 2009, as more high-end homes trickled into the region’s sales mix, a tracking firm said Tuesday. San Diego-based MDA DataQuick reported that last month’s median of $285,000 was up from $250,000 in March 2009 and up almost 4 percent from February’s $275,000.” The article, written by Jacob Adelman, continued to state that “DataQuick President John Walsh said the increases showed that the market was continuing on a slow, upward trajectory, but that sales still remain well below their March average of around 25,000.”

Foreclosures, which have recently been a problem for Beverly Hills homes for sale, have sharply declined in recent months. According to an April 20, 2010 article in the Press Telegram, “The number of Los Angeles County homes slipping toward foreclosure dropped by 43.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2009, a real estate information service reported today. Lenders sent default notices to 15,797 homeowners in Los Angeles County in the first quarter, down from the previous year’s first-quarter total of 27,981, according to La Jolla-based MDA DataQuick.” The piece continued to note that “Statewide, default notices were sent to 81,054 homeowners in the first quarter of the year, DataQuick reported. That was a 4.2 percent decrease from the previous quarter’s 84,568 notices and down 40.2 percent from the same quarter in 2009, when 135,431 default notices were sent.”

This same general trend of positive news for Beverly Hills real estate was echoed by an April 16, 2010 article in the Los Angeles Times. This piece, noted by Alejandro Lazo, found that “The median price paid for a California home in March jumped 14.3% compared with the same month last year, reflecting a reduction in the number of foreclosure properties on the market and the comeback of higher-priced coastal areas.”