June 21, 2008

Is California On Its Way To A Housing Recovery?

Tales of doom and gloom in the real estate market are abound. Even our blog posts on Redfin cite references to the declining markets in Los Angeles. But maybe a turnaround is just down the block and around the corner (don’t throw the darts at me just yet!). Yes, the numbers don’t lie, (California housing prices are down 30% from 07), but I’m not (entirely) alone in thinking that some sort of recovery may be in sight.

According to Bloomberg.com, analysts from the UCLA Anderson Forecast have noted that the stats indicate the first signs of recovery - maybe.

The California housing market may be showing the first signs of a recovery after three years of declining sales and two years of rising foreclosures, the UCLA Anderson Forecast said today.

While home prices in the most populous U.S. state are still weak, the number of houses and condominiums changing hands in some parts of California is rising, according to the Anderson Forecast at the University of California, Los Angeles, which released its 127-page forecast for both the state and the U.S. today.

So while the numbers are still bleak, the Anderson Forecast predicts that the number of foreclosures will begin to have less of an impact in 2009.

Foreclosures will probably continue to hurt California’s housing market for the rest of this year and then start to moderate in 2009, the Anderson Forecast said. While a “normal” housing market is still a long way off,” according to the report, the increase in home sales in some parts of the state is a positive sign.

For those of you interested, these are homes with reduced prices in the LAX area:

Playa Del Rey

421 Waterview St./3bd, 2.5 bth/$981,000 to $929,000

Playa Vista

7100 Playa Vista Dr., #107/2bd, 2.5bth/$698,589 to $659,000

Westchester

6460 W. 84th St./3bd, 2bth/$799,000 to $775,000

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