Santa Fe real estate market

The Santa Fe real estate market continues to remain in a situation with mixed signals and conflicted information. As long ago as February, Santa Fe was in a negative but stable situation, a conundrum that continues to the present day. According to a February 23, 2010 article in the New Mexican, “For the last quarter of 2008, the number of homes sold in the county fell from 132 to 106 and the median price dropped from nearly $550,000 to $427,500. And that’s after some discouraged sellers took their homes off the market. Most everything is taking longer to sell, especially higher-priced properties.” The article, written by Anne Constable, continued to say that “The good news is that there are relatively few foreclosures in Northern New Mexico compared to other parts of the country, and few people are under water – owing more on their houses then they are worth…New Mexico escaped the worst for various reasons…”

Another article in the New Mexican emphasized the muted effect of foreclosures on New Mexico homes for sale as compared to the rest of the country. The article found that “The number of U.S. households facing foreclosure in January increased 15 percent from the same month last year, and a surge in cash-strapped homeowners who’ve fallen behind on mortgages could be on the way.” The piece, also released by the Associated Press, went on to note that “There were 107 foreclosures in Santa Fe County in January, according to RealtyTrac…In New Mexico there were 1,281 new foreclosure filings and nine foreclosure sales, according to RealtyTrac…The rate of foreclosures in New Mexico remains low. In his most recent newsletter, Santa Fe title company executive Alan Ball said foreclosures in states such as California and Florida exceeded 400,000 last year. In New Mexico, by contrast, there were just over 7,000 foreclosures.”

Similar news for Santa Fe real estate was reported in an April 14, 2010 article in the New Mexican, which said that “Home sales bounced a bit in the first quarter of 2010, with sale volumes increasing across all sectors of the Santa Fe market, according to several measures. The Santa Fe Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that the total volume of city-county detached home sales increased 16 percent from a year ago to 205.”

Carlsbad real estate market

The Carlsbad real estate market, a subset of the larger Southern California real estate market, has been showing signs of recovery in recent months. According to an April 21, 2010 article in the Los Angeles Times, “The California foreclosure crisis appears to be abating, new data show, as the federal government and big lenders step up efforts to keep troubled borrowers in their homes.” The article, composed by Alejandro Lazo, continued to say that “Mortgage default notices – the first step toward foreclosure – plunged 40.2% statewide in the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2009, according to San Diego research firm MDA DataQuick.” These general trends for the state of California also extend to the Southern California region, the San Diego area, and Carlsbad specifically.

The average cost for Carlsbad homes for sale, as well as the rest of Southern California, increased substantially according to an April 14, 2010 article in the Los Angeles Times. The piece found that “Southern California’s housing market showed fresh signs of momentum in March with the median price and sales pace improving from the same month a year earlier as buyers hurried to take advantage of a soon-to-expire federal tax incentive, cheap prices and low interest rates.” The article, written by Alejandro Lazo, continued to say that “The median price paid for new and previously occupied houses and condominiums in Southern California jumped 14% in March to $285,000 from the same month a year earlier, according to San Diego real estate research firm MDA DataQuick. The closely watched median – the price at which half the homes sold for more money and half for less – rose 3.6% from February.”

A generally positive trend for Carlsbad real estate and the Southern California market in general was reported by an April 15, 2010 article in the Central Valley Business Times. This piece noted that “Home sales and prices continued a steady but pokey climb up from the bottom in Southern California last month as buyers scrambled to take advantage of low prices and low mortgage interest rates, says a report from MDA DataQuick of La Jolla, a real estate information company.”

Portland real estate market

The Portland real estate market is in a bit of a perplexing situation – although the region continues to face challenging economic times, new residents continue to flood into the area. According to an April 12, 2010 article in the Portland Real Estate Examiner, “Across the nation, foreclosures have hit a new record high. Currently there are 7.9 million loans that are either facing foreclosure or are already bank owned. This is up 51.1% from just one year ago. To make matters even worse, the number of new delinquent loans since January this year is up as well. More than 1.1 million loans that were current as of January 2010 art now at least 30 days late.” The piece, written by Shelby Bateson, continued to say that “Oregon’s mortgage delinquency rate is higher than the national average due to the higher than average unemployment rate here. On the upside however, perhaps, it has been reported by U-Haul corporation that the population in Oregon is growing faster than most states. Portland is the third fastest growing city in the country at 10.16%.”

The average sales price of  Portland homes for sale continued to decline in recent months, according to an April 27, 2010 article in the Oregonian. This piece found that “After showing some small but encouraging gains last summer and fall, Portland-area home prices are falling again, hitting a new low in February, according to the Case Shiller Index released Tuesday.” The article, written by Jeff Manning, continued to note that “Portland prices have declined 21 percent from the peak of July 2007, according to the report. Portland was one of the six major metropolitan areas around the country hitting new floors in February.”

This same decline in the average price of Portland real estate was reported in an April 27, 2010 article in the Portland Business Journal, which found that “U.S. home prices rose in February for the first time since late 2006, but Portland was one of the few exceptions, with prices dipping 4.8 percent in the last year, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index.”

Brea, California, a suburban community

A city of around 35,000 in Southern California’s famed Orange County, Brea, California, is a suburban community just minutes from the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Like most areas in Orange County, the community felt a heavy impact from the economic downturn across the U.S., causing Brea real estate prices to fall and worry to set in among many homeowners who suddenly found themselves underwater on their mortgages.

According to the most recent statistics available on the Orange County Register‘s real estate blog, for the three-week period ended March 25, Brea saw drops in one of its Zip codes but small improvements in the other. In the city’s lower-priced Zip code, the median sales price was $457,500, a 13.7% drop year-over-year. In that area, there were 27 sales in the three-week period, a 15.6% fall from last year. The community’s second Zip code saw more promising signs. Its median sales price was $775,000, a 14.8% increase year-over-year. Meanwhile, sales activity was unchanged from last year in this area.

The most recent full monthly statistics, available on DQNews, showed similar trajectories. The first Zip code had a median price of $501,750, down 4.4% for the year, and sale volume of 17, a 5.6% drop. The city’s second Zip code saw a median price of $764,000 in February, 24.5% more than February 2009′s prices. It saw four homes sold in the month, double last year’s two sales during that time.

At the end of 2009, the city maintained a low level of Brea homes for sale that had been foreclosed upon. In the fourth quarter of 2009, there were just two foreclosures. There was just one single foreclosure in the third quarter of the year, though in the fourth quarter of 2008, there were no foreclosures at all in the city.