Though located far away from the coasts where most of the carnage from the U.S. financial crisis has occurred, the market for real estate in Des Moines has not been immune from the effects of decreasing value, higher foreclosures and increased inventory that have plagued nearly all markets across the country to some degree over the past couple years.

Though prices are still continuing to suffer and are grasping for a stabilization point, the number of homes for sale in Des Moines that have closed in recent months is on the rise, which has contributed to a thinning out of inventory and a better outlook overall. In October 2009, according to statistics from the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors, there were 865 closings, up from just 623 in October of 2008, though down slightly from September’s higher figure of 881. The average sale price, though down from peaks and down from October 2008’s figure of almost $163,000, stood at just under $157,000, up from September’s average of just under $154,000, showing a possibility of gaining momentum.

Though inventory has begun to thin out a bit with the added incentive for buyers who wanted to capitalize on the government stimulus program offering up to $8,000 in tax rebates to qualified first-time homebuyers, it still remains high, at around 5,400 in October, but down from September’s 5,500 and from last year’s clip of over 5,900. The figures all include Dallas, Polk and Warren county statistics.

In the city proper, sales volume of Des Moines real estate has been up as well. In August, sales increased to 247 from 234 in 2008, an increase of 5.6%. However, for 2009 overall to date, sales volume in the city of Des Moines is down by 8.2%. It remains to be seen whether the increase in buyers spurred on by the government program will be enough to propel these statistics into the black. Sales prices in Des Moines have been down as well: The average price was down 5.2% in August, while the median price was down 6.7%.

As one of the country’s largest cities, the San Francisco real estate market is a diverse market, with different levels of homes in the Bay area city. The market has taken a dive in the recent two years since the beginning of the global recession and the bursting of the U.S. housing market bubble.

Recently, however, signals indicate real estate in San Francisco may be slowly improving. In September, sales in the Bay region were up by 8.4% compared with sales in September 2008, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, quoting information from MDA DataQuick. During the month, there were almost 8,000 new and existing homes sold in the nine-county area. Existing homes accounted for just over 5,700 of those transactions, up by 4.7 from last year’s figures.

Though volume is up, sale prices still remain lower than recent highs. The median price for an existing single-family home in the region in September was $380,000, down 5% from last year’s price of $400,000 but slightly above August’s figure of $375,000. Sales volume was also up 4.8% compared with August’s sales.

Though the figures seem promising, staving off foreclosures will be key to the market’s recovery. “What will be key is how many more foreclosures we see and the timing of when they hit the market,” Andrew LePage, a DataQuick analyst, told the Chronicle. “We’re still climbing our way out of a deep recession.” Those figures have fallen recently — in February foreclosures made up 52% of homes for sale in San Francisco; September showed those foreclosed home accounting for 32.8%.

Southern California has long been home to some of the United States’ most exclusive — and most expensive — communities. This statement is particularly true in Orange County, a long sought-after destination for many, with its large, exquisite homes and tropical oceanside climate. Homes for sale in South Orange County have always fetched high prices, and not even the real estate market collapse could change that. However, prices have fallen substantially since before the recession began, allowing many new buyers into the market who could not quite meet the price threshold before.

According to the Orange County Register, Orange real estate is currently experiencing mixed signs across its many communities. For a nearly three-week period ended Oct. 6, statistics showed 495 homes for sale in all of Orange County, up 16% from the year prior. The median price was at $685,000, a fall of only 1.9% from the price during the same period in 2008, a positive sign for sellers.

Real estate in South Orange County is showing the most positive signs of the county’s market, with 814 sales over the period of almost a month ending Oct. 6, up by 27% from 2008 volume at the same time, and at a median price of just over $500,000, an increase also in the price from last year, though just by 0.2%.

However, Orange County’s pricey real estate has not been exempt from the foreclosures that have plagued much of the country in recent months. According to the Orange County Register quoting First American Corelogics, as of August of this year, 6.9% of mortgage holders in the county were 90 days or more past due on their loans, an increase of 77% from 2008 rates, though Orange County’s rates are still lower than the U.S. average of 7.1% and California’s average rate of 9.8%. The foreclosure rate in Orange County stands at 2.5%, up by 58% from 2008’s rates but still lower than California’s overall foreclosure rate of 3.5%.

The Los Angeles area was hit hard by the downturn in the U.S. housing market and has continued to suffer ill effects of the ongoing world recession. However, signs point that the market may be beginning to inch away from the worst of it. Beverly Hills real estate is notorious for being some of the most expensive in Los Angeles and the area, and though many mult-million-dollar homes have maintained most of their value, others have lost quite a bit, and owners have been forced to sell homes for less than their previous worth.

Through 2009, the infamous 90210 ZIP code in the Hills has fallen steadily, starting the year in January with a median home price of around $3.75 million. That price rose gradually in the spring to over $4 million in May before dipping again and slowly falling to about $3.4 million now, where it stands as of Nov. 1. The city’s less famous ZIP code, 90212, started the year with a median price around $2.5 million, maintained that level until about May and then began a precipitous slide, bottoming at around $1.75 million in mid-September. Since then it has picked back up and as of the beginning of November stood at just under $2 million.

Sales volume, meanwhile, has been up. September sales volume of homes for sale in Beverly Hills was up by 55% from September of 2008, a positive sign that more are willing to jump back into the high-end real estate market. However, the number of actual sales is quite small in this high-priced market; sales jumped from 11 in 2008 to 17 in 2009, so a few unexpected sales can sway the market. Additionally, inventory has been up slightly. Inventory for September of this year is up 3% from the stock from last year, with 359 homes for sale.

The number of properties under contract has increased by 108% in September of this year versus September of last year, another encouraging sign for real estate in Beverly Hills. The months’ worth supply of inventory is down too, also a positive sign as fewer homes are stagnating on the market for months on end. The September volume was a 10-month supply, down 56% from September 2008’s nearly 23-month supply.

Home prices have been steadily rising on Oahu as well, according to the Pacific Business Journal. Home prices rose in September, though the figures were still the lowest in a decade. There were 244 homes sold in September, a 13.5% rise from the same period of 2008. The median price was $600,000, up by 3% from $590,000 in 2008’s same month. Condo prices were also up 3% to $305,000 from $296,000, while their volume in sales was also up 13% from the same period last year.

Most experts agree that real estate in Oahu is outperforming the markets of other Hawaiian regions, mostly due to the belief that the market has already hit its bottom and is now beginning the slow ascent back to normalcy. “I think (Oahu) is still at a healthy point,” Harvey Shapiro, research economist for the Honolulu Board of Realtors, told the Star Bulletin. “It looks like we have hit bottom in the first quarter of the year and that we are on the upswing.”

According to statistics in the Contra Costa Times, in the week ending Oct. 25, 2009, there were 15 home sales in Walnut Creek. The prices of the real estate in Walnut Creek that sold range from $159,500 to $886,000. The median sale price was $400,000, while the average sale price was $430,400. Much of the increased activity in homes for sale in Walnut Creek can likely be attributed to those wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to buy a home while they are still eligible for the government’s tax credit for certain first-time home buyers who meet eligibility requirements.

Home sales were up in the Bay Area during September, as were sale prices, as nearly 8,000 homes and condos were sold, an increase of 4.8% from August and up by 8.4% from September 2008, according to the Contra Costa Times. The median price was $365,000 for the whole of the Bay region, a 1.4% gain from August but 8.8% lower than 2008’s September prices.  In Contra Costa County, in which Walnut Creek is located, 1,607 homes were sold in September, up from 1,587 in August but almost 10% lower than sales in September 2008. The median price for a home sale in the county was $262,000, a drop of 12.7%.

The Florida real estate market has been hit quite hard by the collapse in the bubble that was the U.S. housing market. Since the fall of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, which essentially marked the beginning of the onslaught of bad economic news and recession, most markets in Florida have suffered greatly and seen their values heavily diminished. Sarasota real estate is no exception, as it has fallen from its 2007 levels.

Located on the southern Gulf side of the peninsula, Sarasota has seen mixed signals in recent months. According to the Herald Tribune, which quotes market statistics compiled by John Lafabregue at RE/MAX Alliance Realty in Sarasota, new listings in October are down from 2008 levels by 29%, though listings are up slightly by 5% from last month’s figures. Total listings of homes for sale in Sarasota in October are down by 32% from 2008. The inventory is expected to stay down from 2008 levels, however, as homebuyers took advantage of the government’s program to stimulate the housing market by offering tax credits of up to $8,000 to select first-time homebuyers.

Sales are continuing to climb, as sales in October were up by 37% from October of 2008, and up a further 27% from this September, as buyers rushed to close before the Nov. 1 expiration of the tax credit. Through 2009 thus far, sales are up 37% as well as real estate in Sarasota continues to rebound.

The condo market shows similar signs. New and total listings were down, by 8% and 18%, respectively, from 2008 levels in October. Sales were up 88% in October of this year versus October of last year, a very positive sign, though that level is actually eclipsed by this year’s September sales figures by 33%. Through the year, condo sales are up 17% from last year’s levels.

Strongly situated in the Midwest region, which has not suffered the kinds of huge plunges in real estate values that many markets on the coasts have witnessed, the Cincinnati real estate market is quite strong when compared with the rest of the country. In fact, the city was recently ranked fourth nationwide for the highest home price increase in a four-month period ending Aug. 25, according to data from Clear Capital Inc., a Truckee, Calif.-based real estate valuation analysis firm, says the Business Courier of Cincinnati.

Over that four-month period, the national data showed a 7.3% gain in housing prices. Meanwhile, homes for sale in   showed an increase of 21.4%. The Midwest had a strong showing in the survey, with other Midwestern cities Cleveland, Columbus, Louisville, Milwaukee, Chicago and Minneapolis also in the top 10. “The Ohio markets didn’t have the runup,” Sean McSweeney, director of product management for Clear Capital’s data unit, told the Business Courier “They didn’t have a lot of speculative buying, so they didn’t have the big decline.”

Foreclosed residential properties still made up 24% of real estate in Cincinnati for sale in September, but that figure has fallen from 26%  in August, and the inventory is expected to continue to thin out as buyers rushed to take advantage of the government tax program offering incentives of up to $8,000 for select homebuyers. Current inventory stands at seven-and-a-half months’ worth.

Overall, home prices in the Cincinnati area are down 21% from their peak prices, which came in 2005. The median sales price for a home in the area in the third quarter of this year was recently reported at just under $132,000, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, up 24% from the price in the first quarter but still down 3.2% from 2008 figures.

Though Maryland is the state with the highest median household income of any state in the U.S., its high levels of income could not exempt it from exposure to the ill effects of the subprime mortgage crisis and the subsequent crash of the U.S. housing market and ongoing recession. Real estate in Maryland ranges from multimillion dollar homes in the cities like Annapolis and Baltimore, to large farm homes in the hills of Appalachia and historic houses on the shores of the Potomac River.

Maryland real estate has improved in 2009 over the many drops and setbacks suffered in 2008. According to the Maryland Association of Realtors, to date, there have been 4,662 homes sold this year, an increase of 2008 figures at this time of 9.6%. Much of the increase can be attributed to the increased buyers spurred on by the government’s stimulus program, offering tax incentives of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time homebuyers.

Though sales volume is up, prices are down, which has also encouraged more buyers into the market as homes they previously felt were out of their price range have now fallen to attainable levels. The average price to date for homes for sale in Maryland this year is $294,686, down 9.5% from 2008’s figure of $325,565. Median prices also are down this year to date, standing at $261,718, down 3.7% from last year’s median price of $271,767.

Inventory has improved in Maryland as well though, as the increase in sales volume has begun to clear out some of the excess of homes on the market here. As of September 2009, there were just under 44,000 homes for sale in Maryland, down from just over 51,000 in 2008. Of course, Maryland’s markets vary by region and buyers interested in the markets there should more closely examine the cities in which they are interested. For example, though average prices are down by nearly 50% in Kent, prices in Allegany are actually up this year by almost 24%.

Arizona has been one of the states hit the hardest by the falling home prices amid the U.S. financial downturn. Tucson is no exception, as the market has experienced serious price declines and a glut of foreclosures on to the market. However, indicators are turning more positive recently than they have been in recent months, pointing to signs that real estate in Tucson may be on its way to recovery.

According to the Tucson Association of Realtors October 2009 report, in September, there were 945 sales, down 2% from September of last year and down 3.6% from August. Pending sales, however, showed a huge jump year-over-year, with 1,333 sales, an increase of 59.5% from 2008 figures and up by 4.6% from August, as more and more buyers try to get in to take advantage of the government tax incentive program offering up to $8,000 in rebates to qualified first-time homebuyers.

Though sales are up, sale prices are still not where sellers would like them to be, as homes for sale in Tucson in September went for an average price of $196,755, down by over 9% from last year’s price at the same time. There were just over 6,000 active listings in September, down by 23.5% from last year, showing that some of the overstock of inventory is being bought up and moved off the market.

Foreclosures have been flooding the local market and higher unemployment has hurt local homeowners in Tucson. According to the Arizona Star, the Tucson real estate market has a current foreclosure rate of one of every 340 homes. That rate is higher in some outlying communities, such as Marana, where on of every 74 homes has been foreclosed upon, Vail, one of every 54, and Sahuairta, where it was one in every 56 homes.

The Nashville real estate market, like many markets in the South, has experienced a severe repositioning since the onslaught of the U.S. financial collapse and resulting recession. Over the past couple of years, the market has experienced declines in home prices, lower sales volume, higher inventory and more foreclosures as homeowners grapple with the effects of the recession.

In recent months, real estate in Nashville has begun to stabilize a bit, with smaller fluctuations in prices and sales volume. While prices nationally are predicted to continue falling over the next year, prices of homes for sale in Nashville are expected to fall at a smaller clip. Nashville’s home prices have risen 2.9% from the first to the second quarter of this year, according to the Nashville Business Journal. However, prices are still off 3.5% over the year, and the Journal quotes Fiserv as saying Nashville’s prices will fall another 4.3% over the next year.

David Stiff, a chief economist with Fiserv, said “many temporary factors that were partly responsible for string spring and summer real estate markets, including the first-time homebuyer tax credit and Federal Reserve actions to drive down mortgage interest rates, will no longer be bolstering demand. Consequently, home prices will resume falling again before they stabilize in 2010.”

Homes are also still spending more time on the market before selling. According to The Tennessean, Nashville’s largest newspaper, the average number of days for a home on the market in Williamson County in September was 100, an increase of 12 days from figures from 2008. Sales volume was also down 10% in the county in September versus 2008 sales, showing this market still has a way to go before it emerges from the ill effects of the economy around it.

Nationwide, real estate seems to be on a rebound as of late, with home sales in September up by the highest margin in nearly 30 years, according to the Charlotte Observer. Volume rose 9.4% in September, putting national sales now up 24% from where they were in January of this year.  The Durham real estate market, like so many others, is experiencing similar effects.

The number of homes for sale in Durham that sold in September was up by 6% from sales figures in September 2008 but down by 6% from August’s figures, according to the North Carolina Association of Realtors, which includes real estate data for the Triangle region of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill in one category. Though sales were up over the year in the month for the triangle, home prices are still sagging, with average home prices still down by 14% from prices in 2008, and total money spent on residential real estate transactions in the area down by 9% in September year-over-year.

Examining figures more closely, real estate in Durham seems to reflect the trends of the wider triangle region. According to the Durham Region Association of Realtors, in September the city posted 825 homes sold, down slightly from the 875 sold in August but up from 2008’s volume of just 752. Unlike many markets, however, Durham real estate is actual seeing increases in home prices, gradual as they may be. The average sales price was up 1.4% in September to just over $282,000 from August’s average of $278,400, which was also an improvement by 5.5% from September 2008 figures of just under $267,500.

The association reports that September’s sales volume in Durham is the city’s strongest ever September on record, a sign that this market is hot and picking back up, with many interested buyers flocking to find good deals. Active listings are down by 36% from last year’s available stock as more and more homes are snatched away, particularly as many buyers race to take advantage of the government’s tax rebate program offering up to $8,000 to certain first-time home buyers who meet set qualifications. That program is set to end Nov. 30, unless Congress extends it.

Though lying in Southern California, the site of some of the hardest-hit real estate markets anywhere, the San Clemente real estate market has seen some substantial gains in recent months and seems poised to be on its way back to more stable levels than it has experienced during the downtown. San Clemente lies in Orange County, a location noted for its luxurious real estate properties — and the prices to match.

Recently, sales have been picking up in the seaside community, with five gains in sales volume over the past six months putting the year on track to best the previous year. Of the homes for sale in San Clemente, in the community’s first ZIP code in September, 32 homes were sold, an increase of more than 113% from September of 2008, according to DQ News. Prices seem to be climbing their way back up as well, as the median sales price in September was $607,750, up by 26.5% from last year’s median price in September. In San Clemente’s other ZIP code, sales were up as well, though not quite as strongly, increased to 47 homes sold, up by 30.6% from 2008 volume. The median sales price in this ZIP code, however, actually fell slightly, down by 10.6% to $665,000.

According to the local Hartanov Team of realtors, there are currently 568 residential homes for sale in San Clemente. To date, this year there have been 546 homes sold in the community, with an average sales price of just over $711,000. There were 119 new listings of real estate in San Clemente in September, compared with last year’s figure of just 107.  Foreclosures are one area that may still plague the region, however, as Orange County now has a 6.85% rate of mortgage holders who are 90 days or more overdue on their loans, a rise of 77% from the previous year, according to the Orange County Register.

According to local realtor Cecelia Nims, in October, there were 930 homes for sale in Anchorage, which is a lower inventory than was seen over the summer, when those numbers were higher by a couple hundred. Houses are now spending an average of 87 days listed before selling, though the time tends to be longer for higher-priced homes and less for more moderately priced houses. The current average sales price in Anchorage is $297,400, down 3.91% for the year, and down around 11% from highs experienced during the 2004-05 era.

Fellow Anchorage realtor Pauline Hofseth reports on the average time for homes on the market. Homes in the  $180,000 to $225,000 are currently running at about a three months’ supply, while homes in the $225,000 to $300,000 are running four months’ supply and represent 26% of the community’s market. The $300,000 to $350,000 range homes have about 4.5 months’ inventory and make up 15% of the market. The highest value homes, those in the $400,000 to $750,000 range, however, represent 40% of the current inventory, and are generally taking between seven and 11 months to sell. Real estate in Anchorage even higher than $750,000 can take anywhere from one to three years to sell.
The condo market is active as well, with a three- to four-month supply in the $130,000 to $200,000 range, and a nine-month supply in the  $200,000 and $225,000 range. Condos costing more than $225,000 are spending almost a year on the market or more, on average. The areas in Anchorage worst hit by the market decline, Ms. Hofseth reports, are Lake Otis southeast Anchorage, north Anchorage (Mt. View), Girdwood, and Chugiak/Peters Creek.

In the past couple of years, the Ashland real estate market has suffered many of the common hits markets around the country have suffered since the onset of the U.S. financial crisis: increased inventory and foreclosures, major price drops, and decreased sales volume. Though some problems, such as foreclosures and lower sales prices, are still plaguing the area’s market, sales volume has greatly picked back up and recovery seems to be just beyond the horizon.

According to the local Daily Tidings, sales volume in September for Jackson County, in which Ashland is located, was up, marking the eighth straight month when the figures rose. The statistics the newspaper cites are compiled by the Southern Oregon Multiple Listing Service and include data from July through September. During that time, sales of existing homes for sale in Ashland were up by 26.6% from 2008’s figures.

Much of the uptick in sales volume is attributed to first-time home buyers looking to snatch up a good deal, helped along by the government’s stimulus program offering up to $8,000 in tax credits to select, qualified buyers. “As long as the prices are down, the houses are definitely selling,” Kathy Tinsley, an agent with Coldwell Banker Pro West Real Estate, told the paper.

One figure that’s yet to recover in real estate in Ashland is sales prices. In September, the median sales price in the county was $185,000, down from $213,000 in the same month of 2008. The median price for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 was up slightly, however, to $189,700. Prices for real estate in Ashland remain down 12.9% from prices last year, but over the past six months, the median price has risen 7.8% to $345,000, according to the Daily Tidings.

As one of the wealthy communities in Orange County in Southern California, the  Up had high values at its peak but suffered great falls in the aftermath of the collapse in the U.S. housing market and the subsequent recession. As a smaller market, the community’s figures can fluctuate greatly from month to month if there are a few high- or low-priced sales.

Recently, real estate in Mission Viejo has managed to stabilize a bit, with increases and decreases in value coming at much smaller clips, and not double-digit declines as in the past. For a 22-day period ending in mid-October, sale prices of homes for sale in Mission Viejo were up in one of the city’s ZIP codes to $475,000, a 3.3% increase from the same figure in 2008. The city’s other ZIP code, however, saw a decline in price of 7.2% to $450,000, according to figures from DataQuick reported by the Orange County Register.

Though prices haven’t seen major rises, home sales are up significantly in Mission Viejo, a positive sign for the market. Sales in the 22-day period ending in mid-October were up by 18% and 38.8% in Mission Viejo’s two ZIP codes. Much of the increased activity may be due to homebuyers looking to take advantage of the government’s program that promises certain first-time buyers up to $8,000 in rebates to boost activity in the housing market.

Those sales figures for the month of September were up by 38.3% and down by 5.5%, according to DQ News, which shows that the market in Mission Viejo’s ZIP code with the decline in sales in September looks to be picking back up.

The market for real estate in Tacoma has been more insulated than many markets on the West Coast, though it has still suffered several setbacks, withstanding its fair share of price drops, inventory gluts and upticks in foreclosure filings. According to the Seattle Times, foreclosure activity in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area has risen by 37.8% between 2009’s third quarter and the same period in 2008, an unsettling fact that places a large new amount of homes on the market.

According to RealtyTrac, there are currently more than 2,230 foreclosed homes for sale in Tacoma, with an average sales price of just over $163,500. According to the News Tribune, over the summer, sales picked up in the Tacoma area, with sales in June up 27% to 1,341 and the median price at $230,000.

Many attributed the increase in the uptick in sales recently to buyers hoping to get in and cash in on the government’s stimulus package program that will provide rebates of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers. That program is set to expire Nov. 1, but many are urging Congress to extend it and even widen the scope to help keep the real estate market afloat.

Located in a notable and exclusive community in Southern California, the Newport Beach real estate market has been partially insulated from some of the worst effects of the crumbling U.S. housing market because its price levels are so high and its residents so wealthy when compared with typical Americans. However, the market has not been completely cut off from the larger problems in the U.S., and real estate in Newport Beach has suffered over the past two years.

Though real estate values in this Orange County city are down from their highs, they still top the national list. The September price comparison survey conducted by Coldwell Banker found Newport Beach to have some of the top 10 most expensive homes in the country.  www.laobserved.com Newport Beach residents have suffered dwindling values in their assets and some have even been forced to be foreclosed upon, with more than 300 foreclosed homes for sale in Newport Beach in September.

Figures from August of this year showed the median price for a home in Newport Beach ranging from nearly $850,000 to $4.3 million, with varying median prices by ZIP code. The areas in Newport Beach with the highest pre-crash real estate values have seen the largest decline in prices: A Newport Beach ZIP code with a median home price of just over $1 million has seen that median price down by just under 8% for the year. However, the part of the city with the highest values, in the $4 million median price range, has found its median prices losing as much as half of their value over a year, according to DQ News.

This decline in prices has attracted many buyers to the Newport Beach area who previously were unable to afford to get in on the market, however, so the overall pictures of the sales in the market is sound. Many sellers have also been prompted by the government’s stimulus program to offer rebates of up to $8,000 to qualified first-time homebuyers. Others are simply look to make an investment in a high-value area, hoping the homes will eventually retain higher values and pay off, particuarly as homes in the area have fallen around an average of 20% from the peak highs in 2006.

Located in California, the state with some of the hardest-hit real estate markets in the country, the Palo Alto real estate market is a high-priced market that has seen some falls in real estate prices since the U.S. housing market bubble burst. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto seems to be faring at least better than many of its neighboring cities in the Bay Area.

The city is helped out by the fact that it is home to many major high-tech companies and Stanford University. Though education and technology have suffered some from the financial crisis, the industries have not been hit nearly as hard as those like media or autos. According to the San Jose Mercury News, home sales in Santa Clara County, in which Palo Alto is located, rose by 17% year over year in September 2009. Median prices were down by about 2% month over month, though, and the median price was down 8% year over year, even if sales were up. The lower prices of homes are actually what is prompting the uptick in sales, many experts say, as buyers looking for deals scour this high-priced market.

The Coldwell Banker Real Estate’s 2009 Home Price Comparison Index ranked  real estate in Palo Alto as being the fourth most expensive in the country, with a 2009 average sales price of $1.49 million.  The median price for a single-family home in Palo Alto was $1.59 million, as of October 2009. Average properties were on the market for about 95 days and the median price per square foot was $829. Foreclosures in Santa Clara County represented 27.2% of all homes sold in September, up from August’s 26.4%, according to the Mercury News.

According to data available on Yahoo! Real Estate, the median price for homes for sale in Palo Alto was down 3.3% since September, and there were 264 homes on the market. Additionally, there were 67 foreclosed homes on the market, with a median price of about half of regular homes at just over $582,000, an uptick of 1.8% since September.

Waikiki real estate Realtor Jeff Manson reports that the median price for a condo sold in Waikiki was $267,000 in September 2009, an improvement upon 2008’s September price of $248,000 by 7%. However the number of sales was actually down by 5% year over year in September, from 56 to 53.

According to the Star Bulletin, the number of sales in Hawaii during the second quarter of 2009 indicated the market is still falling and has yet to reach the bottom. “For a year now, the West Coast has seen continued erosion in pricing but increased velocity of sales,” Marty Frame, general manager of Cyberhomes.com, a division of Lender Processing Services Inc., told the Star Bulletin. “That trend has started to move across the mainland, but we aren’t seeing it in Hawaii.” Likewise, real estate in Waikiki reflects this greater trend, as home values have cascaded since the crisis began and foreclosures have skyrocketed.

Single-family home sales in the state were down 37.8% from the last quarter, though median sales prices for condos and single-family condos for sale in Waikiki was up 10.2% for the quarter, and steady year-over-year. http://www.starbulletin.com/business/

The Savannah real estate market in northern Georgia may be well off of where it was at its peak, but local real estate experts say they think the market may be in a stabilization period, finished with continual large drops in prices and volume. But the market for real estate in Savannah is not what it was before the financial crisis hit the U.S.

According to the Savannah Morning News, the average sales price for homes for sale in Savannah in August dropped to just over $197,000, the first time the figure dipped below the $200,000 mark since April. The News quoted local realtors as saying these prices, between $197,000 and $210,000, are probably the “new normal.”

Current inventory in the three-county Savannah region remained steady, with an increase of just 12 houses to 5,399. One troubling fact is that new listings of homes for sale in Savannah are outpacing sales by 2 to 1, helping that large inventory to build up. The area’s current inventory is considered a stock of 17.5 months, much higher than the national average of just 7.8 months. Many of the homes coming to the market are the result of higher rates of foreclosure in the area.

Though prices are down and inventory is up, sales volume has actually shown positive signs, largely spurred on by the government’s housing stimulus program, which provides up to $8,000 in tax rebates to qualified first-time home buyers. Home sales in September were up by 9.4% and stood at their highest level in more than two years. Western Chatham County, in particular, has seen a spike in sales, further abetted by a USDA program hoping to speed up sales in rural areas.

Though the Midwest has been struggling since the onset of the financial crisis, with a regional unemployment rate hovering near 10%, in September, the area showed some signs of improvement in the housing sectors as home sales rose 5.8% over sales volume last September, propelled by a tax credit worth up to $8,000 to select first-time home buyers that expires in November. According to an Associated Press article in The New York Times, the median sale price for a home in the Midwest, however, was still down 1% to $147,600, though that slight decrease was the smallest decline across the nation.

Locally, the Indianapolis real estate market is a reflection of the trends across the Midwest, experiencing many of the same ups and downs as the region at whole. According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, sales volume of homes for sale in Indianapolis was up 12% in September year-over-year in the nine-county greater Indianapolis region. Volume rose to 2,160 from 2008’s 1,929, the IBJ said, citing figures from a report released by Indianapolis real estate brokerage F.C. Tucker Co.

Pending sales, however, were down 5% through September compared with those nine months in 2008. The average sale price in the area was down as well as prices of real estate in Indianapolis continue to drag down in search of a bottom. The average sale price for the area was just under $139,000 in August. No county in the nine-county region reported an increase in average home sales prices, suggesting that the market still needs room to stabilize before it will begin to rise again.

Much of the increase in activity was credited with first-time home buyers looking to take advantage of the government’s program to allow a federal tax rebate of up to $8,000 for qualified buyers. Marion County, which includes the city of Indianapolis, saw September’s pending sales rise 13.4% from 2008’s sales figures, from 920 to 1,043. 

The North Carolina real estate, which ranges from homes in suburban areas to condos and homes in cities like the Research Triangle of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, capital-city Raleigh or banking center Charlotte, to homes on the countryside and in the mountains. Over the past several months, most of the markets in this state have suffered with the downtown of the U.S. economy and the nationwide housing slide. Most recently, figures show that real estate in North Carolina may be at or near a stabilization point, as drops in key figures are slowing or even turning back positive.

According to figures compiled and released by the North Carolina Association of Realtors, overall, sales volume in September of this year was down just 1% from sale figures from last September, but down 4% from this August’s higher volumes. The average sales price of homes for sale in North Carolina was also down again by 7% in September, from nearly $212,000 in 2008 to this year just over $197,000. The total amount spent on home sales in the month of September was also down by 8% from the previous year.  National figures showed home sales volume up by 9.4% according to The Associated Press, but by and large North Carolina has not seen these positive increases other areas have experienced.

Though sales are still sluggish and prices are still sliding, not all markets experienced only bad news. Sales volume in Asheville and Brunswick was up 23% year over year. Greenville saw an uptick in sales of 20%, Hendersonville of 25% and Jacksonville, near the coast, saw a surge in sales by 55%, from 220 sales during September of last year to 341 this year. Areas dragging down the sales figures included Pinehurst, which saw a fall in sales of 23%, Haywood, which saw a drop of 15%, Fayetteville, down 18%, and the Charlotte area, off by 13%. Average sale prices were down in all but six of 21 areas in the state.

The Santa Barbara real estate market has suffered many of the setbacks other real estate markets across the country, especially on the West Coast, are experiencing right now due to the financial crisis. The city has seen an increase in foreclosures as residents have seen their assets dwindle and many have lost their jobs due to layoffs or company shutterings.

According to the Santa Barbara Edhat, the average cost per square foot of a home in Santa Barbara (for those homes under $900,000) has dropped to $517 from $830, from 2005 to today, a drop of 38%. The Goleta neighborhood has seen a fall from $666 in 2005 to $495, a 26% fall while Carpinteria’s price per square foot has fallen to $392 from $611, down by 36%.

Current homes for sale in Santa Barbara are going for a median sales price of just over $800,000, down from their high point of more than $1.4 million in 2007, but up from 1999’s low of $450,000. That puts the current prices off the highs by nearly 30%, meaning many residents have lost substantial value to their homes, but also allowing new segments of the home-buying population to get into Santa Barbara who couldn’t afford it before.

In August, there were 38 homes sold in Santa Barbara, with an average sale price of just over $716,000. The market does seem to be stabilizing at these levels, at least, and it’s safe to say that real estate in Santa Barbara will be lower priced than its high levels for at least several years. Additionally, condo sales prices for 2009 are selling at a median price of $467,000, with a three-and-a-half months’ supply currently available.

Notoriously known nationally as one of the hardest-hit housing markets of all states in the U.S., real estate in Michigan has truly suffered since the beginning of the financial crisis, crippled heavily by the downfall of the market in its largest city, Detroit. Prices have fallen drastically across Michigan, where foreclosed homes can now be routinely found for less than $10,000. But though the market here has clearly been a problem the state has been dealing with, the question remains whether the market has already hit its bottom.

The answer, according to some statistics pointed out by the Gaylord Herald Times in Gaylord, Mich., is that the worst may be over. The number of homes for sale in Michigan that have closed in 2009 is up by 20% year-over-year, many probably a result of the government’s tax incentive program to give rebates of up to $8,000 to select first-time homebuyers who meet specific qualifications.

However, a further look at these seemingly positive statistics still shows room for worry. Over 2009, though volume is up tremendously, prices are down nearly just as much, with the average sale price down by 23% year over year. http://www.gaylordheraldtimes.com

Foreclosures have been another problem plaguing the state since the housing crisis began, with homeowners unable to pay their mortgages taking a big hit on the Michigan real estate market. In the third quarter of this year, The Detroit Free Press reports, foreclosure activity was up by 22%, putting the state of Michigan in the top 10 nationwide for foreclosures, at eighth. For the period ended Sept. 30, there was one foreclosure filing for every 122 households in Michigan, for a total in the quarter of more than 37,000 filings. “We don’t see a quick change to the trend. Michigan has been pretty consistently in the top 10 for highest state foreclosure rates,. I see that continuing,” Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac spokesman, told the Free Press.

Durham

Like so many real estate markets across the country, real estate in Knoxville has taken a hit since the onset of the financial crisis and the blowup from the subprime mortgage crisis burst the housing market bubble across the nation. The Knoxville real estate market began to see signs this summer that the worst was over and that the market had hit its bottom and was on its way back up.

However, figures from 2009’s third quarter, which includes July, August and September, suggest that the market may still have more recovery left to achieve. According to the Knoxville Association of Realtors, there were 3,024 sales in the third quarter of this year, down from last year of the same quarter’s figure of 2,253 and from the peak in 2005 of 5,112. Sales had been increasing steadily month to month since the start of 2009, from 498 in January to 1,044 by July. But in August, volume dropped off a bit again, falling to 970 before rebounding slightly to 993 in September, showing there is a great amount of instability and unpredictability in this market.

As a market that was not incredibly overpriced pre-crisis, the values of homes in Knoxville have not been eroded nearly as harshly as in other markets in the U.S., but values have still fallen from their highs. In the third quarter of 2009, the median price of a three-bedroom home is $139,000, off from 2008’s $145,500 and the peak in 2007 of $154,500.  Inventory of homes for sale in Knoxville is still high as well for higher-priced homes, especially. For homes in the $1 million-plus range, the supply stands at 42 months. However, as that range slides to the $100,000 to $150,000 range, the supply dwindles to just nine months, indicating that higher-priced homes are having more difficulties attracting buyers than more moderate, starter-priced homes.

Knoxville realtor Jim Lee, who compiled the Knoxville Association of Realtors data, says the numbers, however, should not be reason to worry: “There will continue to be homes bought and sold every day, just fewer of them and probably not for top prices as before.”

Located inland in California, one of the states hardest-hit by the recent housing market collapse and U.S. financial crisis, Palm Desert has suffered many of the same pitfalls as other cities in the Golden state, including crashing home values, rising foreclosures and an increase in inventory. Recently, however, real estate in Palm Desert continues to experienced a mixed bag of signals, as home sales volume rises but prices remain stagnant or falling.

According to The Desert Sun, the region saw a near-record in the number of home sales over the past two-plus years, but sales prices are also at near lows. The median price for a home in the Coachella Valley has now fallen 57% from its June 2005 high of $393,370, to just $169,080 in August of this year. The median sales price in August had fallen 24% from the price at the same time last year.

In Palm Desert, the average price of homes for sale in Palm Desert in July 2007 ranged from $508,000 to $620,000, depending on ZIP code. By September of this year, those figures had fallen to $313,000 to $373,000. The prices were off by 22% to 30% from 2008 figures, and by 38% to 40% from sales price figures from 2007. The volume of sales in Palm Desert, however, is up by 13% since 2008 and by 16% to 45% from 2007 volume.

One consequence of the lower Palm Desert real estate prices is an upswing in the amount of first-time home buyers, many of whom have been likely spurred on by a government’s program to offer up to $8,000 in tax rebates to first-time home buyers who purchase a house before Nov. 1 and meet certain qualifications. In the greater region, first-time home buyers accounted for almost half of all sales. Prices are expected to hover near the current levels into 2010, experts say.

Though prices have been falling for the past year and seemed to be near reaching a bottom, the most current figures show that real estate in Atlanta is not quite out of the woods yet. In September, according the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, sales volume in the city was down by 4% year over year, despite being up nationally as many buyers are lured back into the market by low prices and incentives for a government program that grants tax rebates of up to $8,000 to many homebuyers.

The median sales price in Atlanta was also down , this by 13% year over year. There are many reasons that can be attributed to Atlanta’s lag in catching up with the national improvement, foremost of which could be its still double-digit unemployment rate. Seven other major cities also reported falls in sales volume from 2008 figures.

But local realtors caution not to read too heavily into the most recent data, noting that September 2008 could have been particularly strong for an unknown reason, and reminding those looking for homes for sale in Atlanta that these cycles can fluctuate wildly from month to month. Roger Tutterow, professor of economics at Mercer University’s Stetson School of Business, told the AJC, “I just can’t image Atlanta is that far out of whack with what is actually happening nationally. I would caution us not to read too much into one month’s data.”

Southern California is popularly known across the country for being home to some of the most exclusive neighborhoods and priciest homes, and real estate in Orange County is no exception. The county commonly tops lists of the most expensive places to live in the country, though since the economic crisis and the burst of the housing bubble, prices have fallen, making properties here within reach to at least a slightly few more buyers.

According to the Orange County Register, the current Orange County real estate is seeing mixed signs across various communities. For a nearly three-week period ended Oct. 6, statistics showed 495 homes for sale in Orange County, up 16% from the year prior. The median price was at $685,000, a fall of only 1.9% from the price during the same period in 2008.

But upon closer examination of the county, regional differences can be seen. The southern part of the county showed the most positive signs, with 814 sales, up by 27% from 2008 volume, at a median price of just over $500,000, an increase also in the price from last year, though just by 0.2%. The northern part of the county had a lower median price, at $440,000, but that price was down 2.5% from last year’s figures. This area saw 739 homes sold, up 6% from 2008. The mid-part of Orange County experienced the worst signals in recent weeks. Real estate in that region sold at a median price of $353,750, down by 0.2% from 2008 figures. Additionally, volume was down as well with 872 homes sold, a decrease of 10%.

Foreclosures have plagued the county’s market as well. As of August, according to the Orange County Register quoting First American Corelogic, 6.9% of mortgage holders in the county were 90 days or more past due on their loans. The foreclosure rate in Orange County stands at 2.5%, up by 58% from 2008’s rates but still lower than California’s overall foreclosure rate of 3.5%.

The Salt Lake City real estate market is sending indications that it still has some work to do before it will be out of its sluggish position that came as a result of job losses across the state coinciding with the global recession and the world financial crisis after the subprime mortgage crisis imploded.

According to the Salt Lake City Tribune in August, sales of existing homes declined, as did the median price of sale, despite sales being up in June and July 6% and 5%, respectively, compared with year-earlier figures. Throughout Salt Lake County sales were down 4.5% in August from 2008 figures and median prices were down about 3%. The market hasn’t fallen completely off a cliff as in some communities, however, as the August median sales price is just about 10% down from June 2007, when home prices peaked. money.sltrib.com
Experts are hoping the soon-to-expire government tax rebate of $8,000 for select buyers will help lure more into buying real estate in Salt Lake City before it expires Nov. 1, unless Congress decides to extend the rebate. “Prices have fallen so much in the West that I think that’s also encouraging some buyers — both investors and those who intend to actually live in their units — to come back into the market,” Celia Chen, senior director at Moody’s Economy.com, said to The Associated Press.

According to data from real estate data provider Zillow available on the Yahoo! Real Estate website, there were almost 2,200 homes for sale in Salt Lake City in mid-October 2009, with these homes having a median price of $265,000, a fall of 1.8% from September prices. There were no new homes on the market, but 1,430 foreclosed homes were up for sale at a median price of $158,000, a 2% fall in price from September sales figures.

According to the Star Bulletin, in September, the state of Hawaii ranked 15th in the U.S. for the most foreclosed homes, not exactly a shining beacon the state of islands wants to promote. Across the islands, 969 properties received foreclosure notices in September, the second-highest month of foreclosure activity in 2009, up by almost 12% from the previous month and an increase of more than 63% from activity in 2008. Only July saw more Hawaii foreclosures, with 990.

The state’s foreclosure rate per household bested the U.S. average however, at just one for every 523 households in Hawaii, compared with the U.S. average of one for every 372. Some cities and islands have been hit harder than others, however, as Maui’s foreclosure rate tops the U.S. average at one of every 255. Much of the foreclosure activity in Hawaii real estate is among non-owner-occupied homes, as many buyers have chosen homes in Hawaii as an investment or as a second-home or vacation property. Almost half of all foreclosures have been at these owner unoccupied homes.

According to data from real estate data provider Zillow available on the Yahoo! Real Estate website, as of the middle of October, there were nearly 9.700 homes for sale in Hawaii at a median price of $485,000, an increase of 2.1% from September figures. There were an additional 1,662 foreclosed homes on the market at a median price of just over $379,000, a slight increase of 0.6% from September sales figures.

There were 15 single-family homes for sale in Mission Beach that sold in September 2009, at a price of $552 per square foot, down 22.7% from September 2008’s price of $714 per square foot, according to DQ News. Additionally there were 24 condos sold during September at a price of $402 per square foot, which was actually an increase from 2008’s figure of $384 per square foot of 4.7%.

The San Diego area, of which Mission Beach real estate is a part, seems to be slowly on its way back to normal levels. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, which reviewed new quarterly data from MDA DataQuick in October 2009, eight of its 56 neighborhoods saw higher prices than a year ago, compared with only one or none in the recent quarters. San Diego as a whole’s overall median home price was $360,000, down 5% from the same quarter in 2008, compared with 2008’s fall of more than 24% from 2007 figures, which were around $500,000.

The paper also reported the San Diego area is experiencing a decline in its long overloaded inventory of homes for sale. Quoting the San Diego Association of Realtors, it said the number of listings for detached homes during the week of Oct. 17 was 5,670, down from 8,562 in mid-July. Foreclosures is another problem this area must deal with. In September, San Diego.

Though it suffered many of the side effects from the bursting housing bubble that cities across the nation are also facing, the Austin real estate market as of late is showing signs of improvement, giving a sense of temporary optimism to buyers and sellers in this market.

According to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, existing home sales of real estate in Austin in the greater region were up by 6.4% in September of this year compared with last year’s figures, the area’s first yearly increase in more than two years. The median price of home sales was up as well, increasing by 2% to $185,250, the newspaper said, citing the Austin Board of Realtors. There were 1,780 sales last month in the greater Austin area, up from August’s 1,748 and September of 2008’s 1,673.

Additionally, October sales seem to be pointing to an improvement as well. Sales volume due to close in October was on track to be up by nearly a quarter from 2008 figures. Many agents and brokers are crediting the rise in sales to the government’s plan to offer up to $8,000 in tax rebates to select home buyers who meet the criteria, which has prodded some into the market who may have otherwise waited on the sidelines for a few more months. Indications seem to show that the market “is beginning to recover,” Charles Heimsath, an Austin real estate consultant, told the Statesman, though he cautioned it will likely bring “a slow ascent into recovery over the next 12 to 18 months.”

According to data from real estate data provider Zillow available on the Yahoo! Real Estate website, as of mid-October, there were just over 8,100 homes for sale in Austin. Those homes had a median price of $269,000, down 2.2% from September’s figures. There were nearly 100 new homes with a median price in the $380,000 range, an encouraging sign that builders in Austin still have enough confidence to continue making homes despite the slumping market. Additionally, there were more than 1,150 foreclosed homes on the market, selling at a median price of just over $143,000, a slight fall of 0.7% from September’s prices.

The Phoenix real estate market has been battered in the past couple of years along with the onset of the bursting bubble of the U.S. housing market and the slump in the economy in general. The area has seen many job losses and as a result many foreclosures. Signs now point to a market still struggling to dig out of a hole. Though sales volume is up, prices and home values are still off their peak.

According to DataQuick News, sales volume fell in August from July by 15.5%, a steep month-over-month decline but still representing a 20% increase from sales volume in August 2008. Sales volume has increased on year-over-year figures for eight months in a row. The median price paid in August for new and resale homes and condos was just under $135,000, up 1.3% from July’s figure but down 29.1% from 2008’s median price of $190,000 and nearly half — 49% — off of the area’s peak median price of $264,100 of June 2006.

The Arizona Republic reports that “Phoenix was the biggest overall home-value loser in 2009, with the city’s median home price dropping from $229,000 to $82,000 between September 2008 and Aug. 31, 2009,” showing that real estate in Phoenix has a long way to go before it can be considered a fully recovered market.

According to data from Zillow makes available on the Yahoo! Real Estate website, as of the middle of October, there were just over 7,400 homes for sale in Phoenix, with a median price of just $180,000, a decrease in price of 4.8% from September. There were 50 new homes for sale here, a figure higher than in most cities nationwide, where the figure remains at or near zero. The new homes had a price of just under $364,000, a 13.1% increase from September sales figures. There also were more than 20,700 foreclosed homes on the market, with these homes having a median price of $165,000, a slight uptick of 0.2% from September’s prices.

The broader bursting of the U.S. housing market has had its share of effects on Seattle real estate, bringing down average sale prices and home values but making many homes affordable for a new class of buyers.

Sales are up in the Seattle area as of late. According to the Seattle Times, the number of closings on single-family homes in Kings County, in which Seattle is located, was up by 14.3% in September 2009 from figures of September 2008, an encouraging figure. Other positive signs on real estate in Seattle include the fact that September was the fourth month in a row where the monthly increase bested its figure from 2008. The uptick in sales in credited at least in part to the government’s plan to offer tax rebates of $8,000 to first-time home buyers.

In the city of Seattle, September’s median price was off 3.6% in September from a year earlier, however, though Northeast Seattle saw a year-over-year gain of 4.7%. Though the price of sales in Seattle have declined, the number of homes changing hand has risen, the homes are just selling at lower prices than before. The number of sales in September 2009 was up by 16.5% in Seattle from September 2008. Neighboring counties all saw increases year over year in that figure as well of at least 10%.

According to data from Zillow made available on Yahoo! Real Estate, there were nearly 3,000 homes for sale in Seattle in mid-October 2009, with a median price of just under $420,000, a fall of 2.1% from September’s figures. Additionally, there were only two new homes for sale but nearly 1,400 foreclosed homes up for sale, with a median price of just over $300,000, a steady figure that remains unchanged from September.

Though the Houston real estate market was doubly beaten — by both the withering national housing market and by a hit in 2008 from a hurricane — the market has shown marketed resilience and recent figures show positive indications it is on its way back.

According data from to the Houston Association of Realtors, sales volume of single-family homes in September was up by 32% compared with September of 2008 real estate in Houston area. However, those figures must be taken in context, as September 2008 was the time when Hurricane Ike hit the Houston area, putting real estate in the back of many minds’ focused on hurricane recovery efforts. Listings volume was down as well by 9.2% from 2008, with 45,520 houses on the market this September, compared with more than 50,000 last year.

September’s median price for single-family homes was up slightly by 0.2% from 2008’s figures, the fifth straight month in which the figure has seen a rise, but the average price for a single-family home was actually down 1.6% from 2008, to just under $206,000. Foreclosure inventory has been high in Houston but figures suggest the supply may be thinning, as foreclosed properties accounted for just 18.6% of sales in September of this year, compared with 19.3% in September 2008 and 34% in January of this year.
According to data from Zillow available on the Yahoo! Real Estate website, in mid-October, there were just under 5,200 homes for sale in Houston proper (excluding suburbs), with a median price of $157,000, down slightly by 1.9% from September’s figure. There were 158 new homes for sale, a sign that builders are continuing in the construction of new homes with the confidence they will sell. There were almost 5,500 foreclosed homes on the market, with a median price of just under $98,000, down slightly by 0.8% from September’s prices.

A market situated in a hard-hit area of the country, Memphis real estate has taken a slight beating in terms of volume since the beginning of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent financial crisis and recession. Monthly sales volume in Memphis is down 19.4%, more than the U.S. and Tennessee averages of 14.8 and 15.5, respectively, according to USA Today. Realtors predict that the market will be able to recover eventually though since the city is not plagued by an overabundance of homes or a specific flailing industry.

“Memphis is not a roller-coaster city,” Jules Wade, the Memphis Area Association of Realtors‘ executive vice president, told USA Today. “Our market just kind of moves along at a fairly steady pace — nothing too fast and nothing too slow.”

Real estate in Memphis in recent months has seen more negative signs, however: 36% of residential listings there saw a reduction in their sales price in September, the highest percentage on a list of the largest 50 cities in America, with an average reduction of 9%, according to the Memphis Business Journal.

According to data available on Yahoo! real estate, based on information provided by real estate firm Zillow, there were nearly 4,700 homes for sale in Memphis in mid-October 2009, with a median price of $117,000, down 2.4% over September’s figures. There were nearly 2,700 additional foreclosed homes for sale, with a median price of just under $55,000, an increase of 1.9% over September’s numbers.

The Cupertino real estate market, like many markets in the country, particularly in the hard-hit state of California, has suffered greatly since the U.S. financial crisis began and the real estate market began experiencing difficulties around the country. Cupertino, in the high-tech Silicon Valley area, seemed to suffered a bit less than others, though now figures are suggesting the area’s market still has a slide before it can totally rebound.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, in August, the number of homes sold and the median price of homes sold in Santa Clara County fell from July, the first time there was a month-over-month decline since January, when the market seemed to begin its slow descent. Home sales were down 21% in August over July, the highest monthly decrease in the entire region. “The impact on August sales volume and prices shows just how fragile the housing market still is, and how affordability is a key driver of housing demand right now,” Matt Anderson, a partner at Foresight Analytics, an economics research company in Oakland, told the News.

According to data compiled by Yahoo! real estate, there were 156 homes for sale in Cupertino in mid-October 2009, with a median price of $1.17 million, down 1.6% from September prices. There were no new homes for sales and 61 foreclosed homes up for grabs, with a median price of just over $655,000, a fall of just 0.1% over September prices.

Summer was a down time for real estate in Cupertino and the greater Silicon Valley area, according to data in the San Jose Mercury News. In August, sales of existing homes fell 2.7% from July’s rate, according to the National Association of Realtors. Still, the figure represented a rise of 3.4% from August 2008.  New home sales in the area were up just 0.7% and the number of new homes sold was down 4.3% from August 2008.

Virginia is a state that encompasses many markets and many different spectra of residents, from the high-priced urban and suburban areas around the Washington, D.C., area to the more rural and mountainous regions in the state’s west. Virginia real estate as of late has seen mixed results of positive and negative signs.

In Northern Virginia in the D.C. area, prices have fallen about a third from the 2006 peak in Loudoun County, about a quarter in Faifax County and about 40% in Prince William County, according to a post in the Real Estate Dispatch in October.  However, local realtors say there have been some encouraging signs regarding real estate in Virginia in recent months.

“There has been a little bit of a rush in October and I see it as a strong last quarter. We don’t see the prices going up, but we are very busy. There is a lot of activity and a lot of buyers. That $8,000 credit for first-time buyers and low interest rates have buyers out there. It’s very surprising to me, though, that buyers seem to be out there on their own, working with listing agents. That is a very difficult thing to do, and I would advise against that,” Lilian Jorgenson of Long & Foster, McLean told the Sun Gazette newspaper.  There is currently a push by many to get Congress to extend that $8,000 tax credit, which expires in the end of November.

According to data available on Yahoo! real estate, median home sale prices have continued falling in 2009, from around $249,000 to $239,000 by October. Figures in October showed there were just under 68,000 homes for sale in Virginia, with a median price of $239,000, unchanged from September. The state harbored almost 20,000 foreclosed homes up for sales, with a median price of just over $216,000, down 1.4% since September, and there were more than 260 new homes for sale, with a median price of $370,000, down 1.3% since September.

An oceanside city near the larger area of Santa Cruz, Capitola, California, was known to have high home values because of high demand for its properties on the water. But like many markets in the U.S., the Capitola real estate market has suffered some serious setbacks brought on by the grueling collapse of the greater American housing market.

Though recent statistics have shown the market may be improving — the median sale price for a single-family home in Santa Cruz County was $533,000 in September, the highest in more than a year, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel — many realtors urge caution in this market, noting that the full inventory has yet to come up for sale. Over the past several months, 30-40 default notices have been posted weekly, but only 10-15 new bank-owned listings come on the market each week. “There are double the amount of foreclosures as bank-owned listings,” Ruth Bates of Thunderbird Real Estate in Capitola told the Sentinel. “The banks are managing their inventory.”

Comparing September 2009 with September 2008, listings in the Santa Cruz area as a whole are down by 24%, sales are up 3% and 11% of September 2009’s sales were of homes of $1 million or more, Gary Gangnes of Real Options Realty told the Sentinel. However, sale price categories must be examined to extra further trends. Higher-priced homes are tending to have more inventory building up — at a current pace, a five-year inventory is available of homes of $2 million-plus — whereas lower-priced homes are selling much better, spurred on by those looking to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers. Of homes under $300,000, Bates said there was just a five-month inventory buildup, a normal demand. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_13565734

According to Yahoo! Real Estate, which compiles data provided by Zillow, there were 88 homes for sale in Capitola in October 2009 with a median price of $649,000, a decrease in price of 7.2% from September. Additionally, there were 40 foreclosed homes on the market with a median price of just under $379,000, a slight increase in price since September of 0.3%.

As some market indicators show the recession may be easing up, the Boulder real estate market is generally bucking this trend, as its market continues to stagnate. Though, like most all residential real estate market in the U.S. the city took a hit due to the economic crisis, some numbers are slowly making their way back up, but the crisis is far from over. Home values declined by 3.2 percent in the first half of 2009 as compared with the first half of 2008.

All 11 of the major housing markets in the northern Colorado area have seen declines in home values, according to a semi-annual in-depth study on home prices released by the Colorado State University Everitt Real Estate Center in September, as reported in the Cherry Creek News.  Homes for sale in Boulder now include a large number of foreclosures. The county saw an increase year-over-year of more than 260% of foreclosure filings, much higher than the state’s average of a 72% increase.

The real estate in Boulder includes an increased inventory across the board as well, and a decrease in the number of sales. The number of single-family attached home closings fell 21% compared with the first half of 2008, while detached homes saw a fall of 19% compared with 2008, according to the Everitt Real Estate Center. The center reported that the inventory of homes below $300,000 has remained steady. However, the $300,000-plus market has seen a marked increase in the number of homes for sale, as more and more homeowners find themselves unable to meet their mortgage payments.

According to the Daily Camera newspaper, through June, housing activity is down by 26% compared with 2008. One sign of slightly more optimism is that Boulder’s median sales price during the second quarter of 2009 was $528,808, up 0.7 percent from last year’s second quarter.

The Fort Worth real estate market is continuing to suffer from the ill effects of the burst bubble of the U.S. housing market, with slumping prices and overstock of supply. In the third quarter of 2009, new home sales were down 34% year over year, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Sales of all homes still fell over the summer, but the declines are becoming smaller. Prices were down just 1.6% in July over the 2008’s figures, the smallest decrease in almost two years. These indicators lead several experts to believe that real estate in Fort Worth is at or nearing its bottom, at which point it can then begin to climb out and back up. In 2009, home prices in the Fort Worth area were only off about 4% from their peaks in 2007. Many markets across the U.S. are off by as much as 30% of their peaks, showing the Fort Worth market has been more resilient than many others.

Foreclosures may continue to plague the area, however. According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, in August, the number of mortgage holders 90 days or more behind on their payments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area rose to 4.8%, higher than the state’s average of 4.4%. This figure was up from 3.4% in August of 2008.

According to data compiled by Zillow and available on Yahoo! Real Estate, there were nearly 5,000 homes for sale in Fort Worth in October 2009, with a median price of almost $147,000, an increase of 2.5% from September’s figures. There were additionally nearly 60 new homes for sale with a median price of just over $200,000, an important figure because many markets have zero new homes for sale. Foreclosed homes accounted for more than 2,225 homes on the market and rang in with a median price of almost $95,000, an increase of 1.8% from September’s sales figures.

Charlotte, similar to many cities in the US, has felt the economic impact due to the meltdown of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Although Charlotte real estate was one of the last markets to be affected by the mortgage crisis, we will certainly be one of the first to recover due to the fact that there is a high demand for what Charlotte homes for sale and the surrounding areas have to offer. Credit must be given for the recovery to Charlotte as a whole, which provides an outstanding financial climate.

Having relocated to Charlotte in 1981 with my family from New York, I’ve marveled at the beautiful weather, clean streets, wonderful lifestyle and educational opportunities that this great city and it’s surrounding areas has to offer. In 1981, I would have considered Charlotte a “Southern City” and now I consider it “a cosmopolitan city in the South”.

Charlotte continues to grow and prepare for the next decade, thanks in part to our outstanding public and private leadership. With such major companies as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, US Air and Carolina Health Care present in Charlotte, our market will recover, as noted by the Case Shiller report from September 2009. While the report is only statistical in nature, it is an indicator of the secure frame of mind that business leaders and the general public possess.

The report also noted that, in this “growing North Carolina city, prices were flat on a year over year basis. Charlotte is one of those healthier areas of our country and the buying interest is recovering.”

Expectation for a full recovery, although some time from now, continues to be full of hope and optimism. Charlotte and the surrounding area offers so much to so many looking for a quality lifestyle, a positive work climate and an opportunity for financial independence. My family and I chose Charlotte in 1981 and have made it our home. We will continue that concept for many years to come as we look to retire in this wonderful region.

Lynn Welles, for Schwebel & Assoc. / Prudential Carolinas Realty /

One of the most expensive markets in the country, the New York real estate market has taken a beating amid the U.S. financial crisis and housing market slump. One thing that must be considered when examining the New York market, like many others, is that it is actually a collection of many small markets, each with its own distinct trends and fluctuations. What may be true of real estate in always-pricey Manhattan might differ with the trends of the markets in the other boroughs, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

As of data available mid-October 2009, real estate in New York seemed poised for a rebound, even if it may take years for values to reach their pre-recession levels. The number of sales over the summer in Brooklyn were up 29.3% over the previous quarter, according to New York magazine, though that figure still represents a decline of 19.3% of the same quarter of 2008. But sales were up across the board, with apartments, co-ops, condos and townhouses all seeing more buyers. In Queens, activity was up 31% from the quarter prior, though also down 13.9% from 2008 levels at the same time.

Average home prices varied in 2009’s third quarter for all of New York, with possibly positive signs in some boroughs mixed with negative signs in others. Average sale prices  in September were from the previous month up by 6% in Brooklyn to $534,000, 3% in the Bronx to $367,000, 1% in Queens to $406,000. Staten Island saw a decrease in prices of 1% to $382,000, while Manhattan saw a drop f 5% to $1.23 million.

Appraiser Jonathan Miller, whose firm, Miller Samuel, prepared surveys for Prudential Douglas Elliman that New York magazine reviewed, wrote: “The surge in activity provides evidence of increased confidence and improved affordability, but not a housing bottom due to future challenges of rising unemployment, tight credit and shadow inventory.”

Though San Diego real estate has been on the decline for three years in a row, signs are pointing to stabilization and eventually a rebound. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, which reviewed in October 2009 newly released quarterly data from MDA DataQuick, eight of 56 neighborhoods saw higher prices than a year ago, compared with only one or none in the recent quarters. The overall resale median price was $360,000, down just 5% from the same quarter in 2008, compared with 2008’s fall of more than 24% from 2007 figures, which were around $500,000.

The paper reported a decrease in longstanding inventory as well, another positive sign for the market: The San Diego Association of Realtors said the number of active listings for detached homes during the week of Oct. 17 stood at 5,670, down from 8,562 in mid-July. For real estate in San Diego to really pick back up, foreclosures will have to stay at bay. In September, the city’s foreclosure rate was 35.3%, up from 34.5 in August and the first monthly increase since January 2009. The Union Tribune also reported that “more than half of all resale homes that changed hands last winter had gone through foreclosure, (in September) it was down to 36 percent.”

In mid-October 2009, according to Yahoo! real estate data, there were more than 3,500 homes for sale in San Diego with a median price of half a million dollars, up 4.2% since September. There were 21 new homes for sale, with a median price of just under $678,000, a fall of 23.1% since September, and there were nearly 8,600 foreclosed homes up for sale with a lower median price of just over $329,000, a price decrease from September of just 0.1%.

But analysts and real estate professionals caution onlookers not to get too optimistic too soon about the market, as it could easily revert back to negative figures in the coming months. “I have the worry that with rising unemployment, we’re not out of the woods yet,” Kelly Cunningham, an economist with the National University Institute for Policy Research, told the Union Tribune. “There are more people that are struggling to make their mortgage payments.”

Though physically located thousands of miles away from the U.S. mainland, the distance has not been enough to keep the greater housing market problems affecting the U.S. from plaguing Hawaii as well. Maui real estate has been giving off mixed signals recently as to whether it is improving or still waiting to hit bottom. The island county’s foreclosure rate surpassed the national level in September and accounted for some of the highest foreclosure rates in the state.

According to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, which cited data released by RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosures in the state of Hawaii was up in September by 12% from August levels, an increase of 63.1% over September 2008. Maui’s foreclosure rate, at one per every 111 households, was starkly higher than the nation’s average of one of every 372. “Since Maui’s median price led at the peak, it only makes sense that it would be highest among foreclosure rates as loans come due and people continue to lose jobs,”  Keone Ball, principal broker at Carol Ball & Associates in Kahului, told the Star Bulletin.

Though signs for improvement aren’t exactly abundant for real estate in Maui, but some indicators do seem to point to at least a gradual stabilization . In September, according to the Maui News, there were 53 closings on single-family homes, down only slightly from 66 in September 2008 or 74 in September 2007, but off quite a bit from the more than 100 in September of both 2004 and 2005. Condominium sales actually showed a slight improvement, with 62 sales in September of this year besting last year’s figure of 50.

According to the Maui News, average prices remain about 20% lower than in 2008 and off around 30% from 2006 figures, when the average sale fetched more than $1 million. The average in 2008 was at $877,000; 2009’s average stands at $715,000. Volume has also drastically decreased: In the first three quarters of 2008, 344 homes for sale in Maui were sold. So far this year, only 163 have closed. Median prices are down on both single-family homes and condos, with the former down 16% year over year and the later down 14%.

Maui real estate update provided by Jeff in Hawaii from American Dream Realty. He can be reached at 808-792-7040 or you use his website to search all available real estate in hawaii. It allows you to get daily email alerts of properties that meet your desired search area. His team can help you on all the Islands of Hawaii the Big Island, Maui, Kauai and Oahu where he lives and is based.

But some local realtors maintain the market slump is simply that — a slump that will soon pass. “After 50 years, I’ve been through several slowdowns, and in my opinion this has not affected us in Chattanooga as much as the one did in the late 1970s and early ’80s when Jimmy Carter was president,” Elgin Smith of Prudential RealtyCenter told the Chattanooga Times Free Press, noting that in those times, interest rates were up to 17 percent, versus less than 5 percent now.

Though the area’s employment sector has suffered like so many around the country, it has been lifted with the impending opening of a new Volkswagen plant in the town, which will bring with it economic benefits and more jobs. According to the Times Free Press, a University of Tennessee study estimated the plant and its spin-offs would create nearly 12,000 jobs in the region, effects that will undoubtedly be a boon to the local real estate market.

According to Trulia.com, a real estate search provider, the average listing price for real estate in Chattanooga was just over $236,000, with the median sales price at over $112,000. Though there were 254 sales in September, that figure represented a more than 76% decline in sales from the year prior.

Though it was hit hard by the slumping housing market crisis that has affected nearly all of America, the East Bay real estate market shows signs that it may be improving as of late, even if the numbers aren’t near where they were before the financial crisis. An October article in the San Francisco Chronicle said the most recent reports show that September actually accounted for a “modest increase” of sales in the Bay area in September 2009.

The Chronicle said median prices of home sales were up slightly in September, with fewer lower-priced foreclosures and more high-value homes added into the mix. In the nine-county Easy Bay area, nearly 8,000 resale homes and condos changes hands in September, enough for an increase of 8.4% since September 2008. Existing home sales accounted for more than 5,700 transactions, up 4.7% from 2008.

Though sales were up, prices were actually down, with September sales showing $380,000 as the median price for an existing single-family home, down from $400,000 from a year earlier, though slightly up from August 2009’s median price of $375,000. Though real estate experts say home sales typically fall after the summer, real estate in East Bay remained steady this year after the summer, spurred on by the fast-closing chance for first-time buyers to cash in on the $8,000 government tax credit for buying a home, as the credit is only good up to Nov. 30. The amount of foreclosed homes on the market has fallen as well. Though it was still high in September at 32.8% of all sales, that figure shows much improvement on the record 52% level in February of this year. www.sfgate.com

Real estate data provided by Yahoo!, which compiles the information from data-provider Zillow, showed 1,442 homes for sale in East Bay in October, with a median price of $848,000, up 1.6% from September. There were also 1,673 foreclosures, with a median price of just over $547,000, a decrease of 0.6% from the previous month. The data included information of the San Francisco real estate market.

Like many markets across the nation, the Colorado Springs real estate market has been suffering in recent years along with the housing market slump and the U.S. recession. However, unlike most markets, which only began to see their major slides in 2008, after the fall of Lehman Brothers and the greater spiraling of financial markets, Colorado Springs real estate has been in decline since 2006, though the adverse effects have been more pronounced since the start of the recession.

Despite this spate of bad news over recent years, the market seems as though it may finally be on its road back to recovery, as statistics from September 2009 show home sales up more than 12% from September 2008, the area’s second consecutive year-over-yera double-digit increase, according to local realtor Rick Van Wieren. But selling prices are mostly being met, with more than 97% meeting asking prices.

Data available on Yahoo! showed, in October 2009, Colorado Springs had a stock of just under 5,000 homes for sale, with a median price of $225,000. That price remains stable from September 2009. Additionally, there were 33 new homes for sale in Colorado Springs at a median price of just over $300,000 and more than 2,700 foreclosed homes for sale at a median — and quite affordable — price of just over $156,000. The price for sales on foreclosed homes was up 0.9% since September. Adding to a comeback in the market has been the return of a number of troops from overseas to the local Fort Carson, creating a bump in demand.

According to data from the Colorado Springs Gazette in September 2009, single-family home building permits had risen year over year this summer, although the figures follow upon three and a half years of decreases in construction. Home sales were up over the summer but had previously declined in all but one month since May 2006. Prices for homes sold in the month of August fell slightly, as they have each month for two years in a row. The area also has not been immune to the foreclosure crisis plaguing the country. Filings for foreclosures were up in August compared with 2008, having seen increases each month in 2009. Real estate in Colorado Springs is not out of the woods yet, Fred Crowley, a University of Colorado at Colorado Springs economist, told the paper.

The California real estate market is one of the wildest markets in the country, with record numbers of foreclosures and plummeting sales prices. However, California is a very large state and its real estate markets must be examined closely on a localized level, as fluctuations can vary widely. Before the economic crisis in the U.S. housing market, Palm Springs, California, was a high-value real estate market. And though home prices and values have fallen substantially since before the recession, they are still much higher than those in much of the rest of America.

Home sales in the state are expected to fall next year, unlike in most of the rest of the country. According to an article in the Desert Sun newspaper in October, a forecast by the California Association of Realtors projected home sales would slow by 2.3 percent in 2010, from a projected 540,000 homes this year to 527,000 next year. But real estate in Palm Springs has seen less damage than many in the Golden state. August figures showed the median home price up 5.4% since July, but down by 17% when compared with August 2008. Showing positive signs, however, the figure was the smallest year-over-year fall in price since March 2008, according to data compiled by brokers Greg Bauer and John Gillette.

The Desert Sun reported that David Carter, branch manager for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Palm Springs, said inventory was improving as well, with fewer homes for sale in Palm Springs. “What we have seen here in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, we’ve seen an increase in sales, slight though it may be. We have gone from an inventory at the bottom of the market of 26 months down to 5 months of inventory,” he told the Sun.

Higher-end homes have tended to fare better in Palm Springs real estate. In August, half-million-dollar to $1 million homes made up only 12.8% of sales in the city, but their median price was up 2.6% compared with prices in August 2008. Likewise, the million-dollar-plus housing market in Palm Springs, though only making up 3% of the market, saw median prices up 16.2% from August 2008. The heavy price decreases are mostly concentrated in bank-owned properties, most of which fall in the under $500,000 range.