Bay Area Real Estate Trends

Last week I said I would comment on how the state budget proposed by Governor Brown is expected to affect California’s housing market.  I expected some changes in tax rates affecting housing, but after reviewing a summary of the budget, there are no changes to tax rates.  In the budget summary, the writers of the [...]

NAR has put out some data showing how much tougher it has become for younger people to sell their home and buy another. Repeat sales for people 44 and younger have fallen off a cliff. Obviously, most of this segment bought during the last decade and are now “equity-challenged.” Generations X and Y are either [...]

There is an interesting article in the Oakland Tribune today about the differences between the South Bay and East Bay economies. While the South Bay has technology, the East Bay became far too reliant on construction and real estate during the boom. From The Oakland Tribune: The current economic boom will be robust enough for [...]

Whenever the “low point” is right now and things are about to get better, be cautious. We’ve seen WAY too many forecasts that look like this over the last six or seven years. From The Atlantic: GDP Predictions A note on reading the graph: The dark blue band represents the “central tendency of projections” and [...]

Interesting graph comparing Japanese home prices to the Case-Shiller index before and after the housing bubbles burst. Hat-tip Kevin Depew:

Housing & Mortgage Foreclosure Properties Fall to 20% of Home Buys – Bloomberg The number of repeat home buyers from 25-44 has collapsed – NAR Bank of America Settlements Impede Fraud Probe, Arizona Says – BusinessWeek Six Questions on Obama’s Mortgage Refinance Proposal – WSJ More Caution and Skepticism About Federal Mortgage “Investigation” - Naked Capitalism [...]