Real Estate & Mortgage

Selling and Buying Real Estate in the San Diego Area

There is good news to those who are looking to buy or sell a home in the San Diego area real estate market. The city of San Diego California has all the attractions of a big city with the tropical feel of the coast and with over 1.2 million residents, the city has much to offer in all aspects of life, including the real estate field. The population continues to grow, meaning more people are seeking to purchase San Diego County real estate, which means, if you are looking to sell your home, in this seaside city area, the options that you have are virtually endless.

Homes in San Diego County

For those who are contemplating a purchase of real estate in the San Diego area, home prices start at around  $300,000 for condos and the upper $400,000s for single family homes. San Diego expands from coastal beauty to the desert sun, having miles of gorgeous shoreline, great job opportunities, and plenty of recreational and entertainment choices for all..

San Diego, A Buyer's Market

The San Diego real estate market has many buyers sitting on the sidelines while the sellers have come to realize that the market for San Diego homes has topped out. It has become obvious that it has become more of a buyers market and looks as if things are returning to a market that is a little more sensible.

Los Alto Real Estate Sales

The Los Altos California real estate market continues to be strong, contrary to the negative stories about real estate in general. 2005 was  good year for Los Altos, with some 400 single-family homes selling at an average of $1,730,539. Housing inventory remains low and the few lower priced homes are selling at a rapid rate. Looks like another good year.

Real Estate Sales in Highland Park

Being one of the more affordable communities in the Foothills area, Highland Park real estate has the smallest median home size in the area, that being some 1200 sq. ft. There is not an overabundance of housing inventory and homes are taking a bit longer to sell than in previous times, with a time lapse of approximately 41 days on the market.

Home Sales in Culver City, California

The real estate market in Los Angeles county, for instance, Culver City real estate, has given buyers the upper hand. With an increase in inventory, the sellers are readily assisting the buyer with their costs and there are an abundance of great programs available. Homes are available starting at around $300,000 and up. 

Manhattan Beach Real Estate Properties

Manhattan Beach real estate listings are a nice mix of single-family homes, townhomes and condos, offering fantastic coastline views and cool ocean breezes. Welcoming visitors all year round with it's sun-drenched California lifestyle, the Manhattan Beach community is a long time favorite with the residents of California.

Housing Starts up

Led by a strong surge in new condos and apartments in the state's southern areas, California housing production improved in February, climbing 7.7 percent from a year ago, the California Building Industry Association announced today.

According to data compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board, total housing starts, as measured by building permits issued, totaled 15,571 in February, up from 14,463 in February 2005.

Single-family starts, however, dropped nearly 14%.

Affordable Homes

This from BankRate.com. Housing is still affordable in the right spots

The article says that Coastal metropolises like Los Angeles, New York, Boston and San Francisco all might be ranked among the most desirable places to live, but they are expensive! Thus home prices make it tuff to find affordable housing.

The article refeences Lawrence Yun an Econmist from NAR. He says high home prices in popular coastal cities appear to be driving a wave of migration to less costly locales, according to , economist at the National Association of Realtors, or NAR. "Californians are buying up properties in cheaper neighboring states. On the East Coast,  prospective homeowners are seeking out property in Virginia and the Carolinas."

It appears  United Van Lines reported that California had a higher number of outbound moves relative to inbound ones for the first time since 1995. For every 44 moves into the state last year, the company handled 56 outbound moves.States with a much higher number of people moving in rather than out included Oregon, Idaho, Arizona and North Carolina.

Overall, housing affordability nationwide is at its lowest point in 15 years, according to the NAR. In December, the percentage of households in California able to afford a median-priced home stood at 14 percent, according to the California Association of Realtors. New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and increasingly, South Florida homes, , according to Yun, are also progressively unaffordable. The most affordable markets, by contrast, tend to be in the Midwest.

Foreclosures Up

RealtyTrac™ an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, released its January 2006 Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows 103,540 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure in January, a 27% increase from the previous month and a 45 percent increase from January 2005.

The report shows a January national foreclosure rate of 1 foreclosure - repo property for every 1,117 U.S. households, continuing an upward trend in which the national foreclosure rate rose in every quarter of 2005.

"This is the first time since we introduced the report in January of 2005 that we've seen back-to-back months with increases of more than 20 percent," noted James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "While some of this might have to do with the seasonality of normal real estate cycles, it appears that rising interest rates and softening home prices are beginning to push foreclosure inventories closer to the historic average of one percent of all U.S. households."

Who has the biggest rate of foreclosure? Georgia wins.

Georgia foreclosures spiked in January. The state reported 7,342 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, more than twice the number reported in December. Georgia documented the highest foreclosure rate among the 50 states -- one new foreclosure for every 422 households.

Who was 2nd? The land that has been one of the hottest . With one new foreclosure for every 483 households, Nevada documented the second highest foreclosure rate among the 50 states. The state reported 1,795 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a 60 percent increase from December and more than 2.5 times the number reported in January 2005.

With a total of 3,747 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, new foreclosures in Colorado tripled from December to January and increased 36 percent year over year. The state recorded one new foreclosure for every 488 households -- the third highest foreclosure rate among the 50 states.