The Carlsbad real estate market, a primarily residential portion of the larger San Diego County real estate market, continued on a streak of positive indicators, although forecasters warned that market watchers should be cautious. According to a May 25, 2010 article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, “With 11 consecutive months of growth, San Diego County is leading the nation’s largest metro areas in home-price appreciation, the widely-watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed Tuesday. In March, the index of San Diego prices was up 10.8 percent from the previous year, the biggest increase since the heady days of mid-2005.” The piece by Roger Showley also noted that “Analysts warned that San Diego’s increase may only reflect a change in market mix, not an increase in value, and that it will likely slow down and possibly reserve as additional foreclosed homes hit the market.”

Foreclosures, which typically artificially inflate the number of Carlsbad homes for sale, were set to decrease in the most recent report. According to a May 24, 2010 article from the San Diego Union-Tribune, “Mortgage defaults dipped in San Diego County last month to their lowest level since January, as distressed-property owners found alternatives to foreclosure, MDA DataQuick reported Monday.” The piece, also written by Roger Showley, went on to say that “Other signs of distress seemed to be easing, as delinquencies stopped growing, banks acted on their foreclosure backlogs, more homes were listed for sale and there were more building permits. Some real estate industry analysts read the figures as another sign the housing market is stabilizing at or near the bottom. But they cautioned the market will remain troublesome for the foreseeable future.”

These tentatively positive trends for Carlsbad real estate also extended partially to the larger Southern California area. According to a May 18, 2010 article from the Associated Press, “Home sales in Southern California declined last month for the first time in nearly two years, as buyers appeared to time their purchases to cash in on a state tax credit and supplies of affordable inland properties dwindled, a tracking firm reported Tuesday.”

The Milpitas housing market, a sector of the larger Bay Area real estate market, rallied somewhat in the most recent tracking period. According to a May 21, 2010 article from the DQ News, “Bay Area home sales fell slightly below the year-ago level and remained well below average last month as increased high-end activity couldn’t offset sales declines in the lower-cost areas and in the new-home market. The continued shift toward a greater portion of sales occurring in higher-cost coastal communities helped the region’s median sale price rise nearly 22 percent from last year, but the median fell from March, a real estate information service reported.” The report, which was also published by the NuWire Investor, continued to state that “Last month a total of 7,003 homes closed escrows in the nine-county Bay Area, up 0.2 percent from 6,992 in March but down 1.9 percent from 7,139 in April 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.”

A general sense of stasis for San Francisco and Milpitas homes for sale was reported by a May 20, 2010 blog from the Los Angeles Times. This piece noted that “The Bay Area’s housing market held steady in April, with prices rebounding from year-earlier levels but sales falling slightly, a real estate research firm reported Thursday.” The article by Alejandro Lazo went on to state that “With more sales of homes occurring in pricier coastal areas, the median price was $370,000 for all homes in April, an increase of 21.7% from the same month in 2009 but down 2.6% from $380,000 in March, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick. A total of 7,003 homes sold last month, down 1.9% from 7,139 in April 2009 and a 0.2% increase from 6,992 sold in March, DataQuick said.”

Relatively speaking, the sales rate for Milpitas and Bay Area real estate was one of the lowest in recent history. According to a May 20, 2010 article from the Press Democrat, “Bay Area home sales in April reached their second-lowest level in the past 15 years, according to a report released Thursday…That was down slightly from March and from April 2009, but nearly 25 percent lower than the historic average of 9,278 sales for April.”

The Los Gatos real estate market, a residential sector of the Bay Area housing market, showed signs of recovery in the most recent reports, although some indicators were still conflicted. According to a May 20, 2010 piece from Reuters, “Home sales in the nine-county San Francisco region continued to shift toward its more expensive markets in April, reducing overall sales and lifting the area’s median sales price from year-earlier levels, a report from MDA DataQuick said on Thursday.” The article went on to note that “The region posted 7,003 sales of houses and condominiums in April, up 0.2 percent from March and down 1.9 percent from a year earlier, while the area’s median home price last month of $370,000 marked a decline of 2.6 percent from March and an increase of 21.7 percent from a year earlier, the report by the real estate information service said.”

The average sales price of a Los Gatos home for sale or Bay Area home for sale was one of the strongest positive indicators in the market recently, according to a May 21, 2010 article from the San Francisco Chronicle. That piece found that “Median resale home prices in the Bay Area rose 30 percent in April compared with the prior year, in a market that featured fewer foreclosures and more activity in higher end neighborhoods, according to a real estate report released Thursday.” The article, written by Robert Selna, went on to state that “Meanwhile, the total number of homes resold in the Bay Area – that is, not newly constructed – fell slightly year-over-year as the higher-priced sales activity could not offset declines in the more affordable areas, according to data analyzed by MDA DataQuick…”

This shift in Los Gatos and Bay area real estate towards more expensive houses was also noted in a more negative light by a June 1, 2010 article by the San Francisco Chronicle. This piece, composed by Carolyn Said, noted that “Foreclosures are going upscale across the Bay Area. Nearly 1,000 homes valued above $730,000 were repossessed by banks in the nine-county region in each of the past two years, according to a Chronicle review of public records compiled by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego research firm.”

The Hillsborough real estate market, one of the upscale residential portions of the larger San Francisco and Bay Area housing markets, has been showing mixed signals in the first half of 2010. According to a May 26, 2010 article from the San Francisco Chronicle, “The San Francisco area had the strongest quarterly performance among metropolitan regions in a closely watched home price index released Tuesday, although other areas and national numbers showed some weakening.” The piece, written by Carolyn Said, went on to note that “The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed the San Francisco area –which it defines as the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa – up 16.2 percent in the first quarter, compared with the same quarter in 2009. Other California areas also showed recovery, with San Diego up 10.8 percent and Los Angeles up 6 percent.”

The number of Hillsborough homes for sale that were actually purchased hit a near-record low in the month of April, however. According to a May 20, 2010 blog from the Press-Democrat, “Bay Area home sales in April reached their second-lowest level in the past 15 years, according to a report released Thursday. Last month, 7,003 homes were sold in the Bay Area, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego. That was down slightly from March and from April 2009, but nearly 25 percent lower than the historic average of 9,278 sales for April.” The post from Real Sonoma went on to say that “The Bay Area median price for both new and resold houses and condominiums was $370,000, compared to $380,000 in March and $304,000 in April 2009. The median price has risen for seven straight months on a year-over-year basis.”

These two contradictory signals for the Hillsborough real estate market were also reported by a May 20, 2010 article from the Contra Costa Times. This piece by Eve Mitchell went on to note that “Bay Area home sales in April were down slightly from a year ago while the median sales price rose sharply. The sales slowdown was tied to some buyers delaying escrow until May 1 to get a bigger home-buying tax break.”