The Saratoga real estate market, a portion of the larger San Jose and Santa Clara County housing markets, showed strong signs of improvement over the last several months. According to a June 6, 2010 article from Businessweek, “Of the 50 largest metros, San Jose saw the largest increase in home prices, 8.3 percent year-on-year during the first quarter, according to CoreLogic data. This was driven by a decrease in inventory – supply of single family homes in Santa Clara County dropped 19 percent year-on-year in May, according to a report by realtor CJ Brasiel.” The piece continued to caution that “The main hurdle for recovery in the area will be the high unemployment rate, 11.7 percent in April, according to BLS data.”

The number of Saratoga homes for sale which were actually purchased increased significantly in the month of April. According to a May 31, 2010 article from the Mercury News, “The local housing market continues to show improvement in sales and value of homes, though overall home sales in the nine-county Bay Area and the state as a whole, showed mixed results during the month of April, according to latest real estate sales and price reports. MDA DataQuick reports sales for all new and resale homes and condos in Santa Clara County rose 3.1 percent in April compared with the same period last year.” The piece, composed by Rose Meily, went on to note that “A total of 1,656 homes sold in April, up from 1,606 homes sold in April 2009. The median home price for all homes jumped 20.7 percent from $405,000 in April of 2009 to $489,000 this year. The jump in median price is attributed to increasing sales in the higher-end market in comparison to last year.”

The Saratoga real estate market also saw a shift towards more expensive properties in the month of May. According to a June 11, 2010 article in the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, “Sales of million-dollar homes rose significantly in Santa Clara during May, helped in no small part by federal and state tax credits. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage reported 251 luxury homes sold last month, almost 70 percent more than the 148 sales that occurred in May 2009.’

The Redwood City housing market, a portion of the larger Bay Area real estate market, saw a slight decline in home sales despite an increase in 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, written by Jim Christie, continued to note 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.”

Redwood City real estate, along with homes for sale in the rest of the Bay Area, showed a strong rally in median home prices in the month of April. According to a May 26, 2010 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, “The San Francisco area had the strongest quarterly performance among metropolitan regions in a closely watched home price index released Tuesday, although other areas and national numbers showed some weakening.” The piece, composed by Carolyn Said, went on to state that “The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed the San Francisco area – which it defines as the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa – up 16.2 percent in the first quarter, compared with the same quarter in 2009.”

The Redwood City real estate market also benefitted from a decrease in foreclosure filings and mortgage defaults. According to a June 10, 2010 article from the Contra Costa Times, “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 and a 17.5 percent drop from April. Some 1,434 homes became bank-owned properties, a 36.1 percent increase from a year ago and a 1.6 percent drop from April.”

The Walnut Creek real estate market is heavily dependent on the larger East Bay and Bay Area real estate markets. According to a March 11, 2010 article in KGO San Ramon, “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.” The piece, composed by Laura Anthony, continued to say that “At least temporarily, fewer bank-owned properties are coming on the market. In some areas of Contra Costa County, there is intense competition for them among buyers.”

The median price for Walnut Creek homes for sale rallied slightly in the month of February, according to a March 18, 2010 article in the Los Angeles Times. This article found 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 Thursday. 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 had been vital to the Bay Area.”

Despite this good news for Walnut Creek real estate for sale, some indicators pointed in the opposite direction, according to a March 19, 2010 article in the Contra Costa Times. The piece, composed by Eve Mitchell, continued to say that “Bay Area home sale prices rose for the fifth-straight month while the number of homes sold fell for the second-consecutive month on a year-to-year basis as some buyers are finding it harder to get into a home due to worries about job security, a lack of inventory and difficulty getting financing.”

El Dorado Hills is a neighborhood found in the outskirts of the San Francisco metropolitan area. The El Dorado Hills real estate market centers around the trends of the larger Bay Area’s indicators. Foreclosures have started to decline in the rest of the greater San Francisco area, a possibly positive indication for the El Dorado Hills market in particular. According to a February 16, 2010 article published by MSN Money, “Notices of default declined in the four-county region last month, but the number of banks who received the keys to homes increased compared to a year ago, according to a report released Tuesday. And foreclosure activity statewide increased last month from January 2009, according to ForeclosureRadar.” Looking specifically at the El Dorado area, the article found that “The county had 180 notices of default, while back to the bank properties almost doubled to 94 from a year ago.”

Some trouble signs for Sacramento homes for sale were noted by an article in the Sacramento Business Journal. According to the piece, written by Michael Shaw, “The Sacramento region’s median home price inched up 3 percent in January, compared to a year ago, much lower than the 15 percent increase statewide, according to a California Association of Realtors report Tuesday.” The piece, written on February 23, 2010, also noted that “The association estimated that the four-county Sacramento region’s median price was $174,830 in January, though that figure varies widely within the counties that make up the metro area, reaching as high as $310,000 in El Dorado County.  The statewide median price is $287,400. The overall number of sales for the month in the Sacramento region was down 24.9 percent compared with January 2009 – and off 29.5 percent from December.”

A larger theme for Sacramento homes and other real estate in the county was noted by a March 2, 2010 article in the Sacramento Business Journal. The article, written by Jeff Clabaugh, found that “The median sales price in Sacramento County for homes of all types, including newly built ones, was $165,000 in January, the same price compared to January 2008.”

Though located in California, one of the hardest hit states in the country, Pleasanton real estate has managed to hang on without falling off the real estate cliff. Recent numbers are encouraging, suggesting this Bay Area city may be on its way to climbing out of the real estate market plunge as sales volume is up and buyers are flocking back to this market in search of a good deal for investment.

According to data from The San Francisco Chronicle, sales in Pleasanton in August were up in both of the city’s ZIP codes, by 14.6% and 26.5% from figures reported in August 2008. Median prices were $761,000 and $557,000. Though those represented slight price declines, sales volume has been up recently.

Local real estate broker Angela Manatt reports that real estate in Pleasanton is now in a buyer’s market, as prices in the area are down from 10% to 30% from their peaks, but sales volume was up in September for the fourth month in row, suggesting there are many buyers out there actively seeking homes on the market.  Fellow realtor Sheila Cunha reports that the average number of days on the market for a Pleasanton home is just 43, a very low figure when compared with some current national averages.

According to data from Zillow made available on Yahoo! Real Estate, in mid-October 2009, there were almost 260 homes for sale in Pleasanton. Those homes had a median price of just under $900,000, a slight increase of just 0.1% from September prices. There was just one new home for sale, but more than 270 foreclosed homes also graced the market. These bank-owned homes are selling for a median price of just over $540,000, a fall of 3.3% from September figures.