The rate of home price appreciation in the U.S. remained slow but positive in the first quarter of 2007. The OFHEO House Price Index (HPI), which is based on data from sales and refinance transactions, were released today by OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart, as part of the quarterly report analyzing housing price appreciation trends.

OFHEO’s full PDF of the report released May 31, 2007 is at: www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/1q07hpi.pdf .

The following map provided by OFHEA gives you an overall perspective on House Appreciation over the past 12 months on a regional basis.




On a regional basis, the Mountain Census Division continues to have the strongest housing markets, as it was home to the four states with the greatest annual appreciation rates: Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Seven states experienced double-digit appreciation rates between first-quarter 2006 and first-quarter 2007. The states with the fastest rate of appreciation for the period were Utah (17.01 percent); Idaho (12.27 percent); Montana (11.68 percent); Wyoming (11.67 percent); Washington (11.63 percent); New Mexico (11.21 percent); and Oregon (10.77 percent).

At the metropolitan level, prices were up from the previous quarter in 237 of the 285 cities on OFHEO's list of ranked metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Another 46 cities experienced price declines, with no change in two other MSAs.

The MSAs with the greatest annual rate of appreciation between the first quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 were: Wenatchee, Wash. (25.6 percent); Provo-Orem, Utah (19.7 percent); and Salt Lake City, Utah (19.1 percent). The MSAs with the lowest rates of appreciation for the same period were: Punta Gorda, Fla. (-4.6 percent); Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, Calif. (-4.4 percent); and Modesto, Calif. (-4.4 percent).

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, Housing Appreciation, NAR, Real Estate Cycles

"The Bay Area appears to be shaking off the nation's housing doldrums."

"Local home prices are still going through the roof, even though far fewer properties are changing hands. That contradicts the national real estate trend of slumps in both price and sales volume."

"Why does the region's housing seem to defy gravity?"

"It's the wealth effect."

"The Bay Area is one of the strongest economies in the country today," said Ken Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley. "The upper end of the market in the inner areas (San Francisco and the counties closest to it) is doing extremely well. This is a completely different trend than the rest of the country."

Read Carolyn's entire article from today's San Francisco Chronicle HERE.

"DataQuick's county breakdowns show that existing-home prices rose in April in the six innermost Bay Area counties -- Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Mateo -- but declined in the area's furthest-out counties: Napa, Solano and Sonoma."

For a complete breakdown by county, view the full story from DataQuick.

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, Continuing Study of the California Economy, Housing Inventory, Real Estate Cycles, San Francisco Chronicle

The real estate industry was hit with some bad news this week with rising foreclosures and a drop in the nationwide median home price.

Inman News managing editor Jessica Swesey and founder and publisher Bradley Inman discuss the significance of the latest statistics.

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, DataQuick, Housing Statistics, Inman News, Median Home Price, Real Estate Cycles

However, these bits of information that we are able to pull are only snapshots. Tracking these numbers over time gives us the ability to spot trends. These trends may be subject to our interpretation, but they do give us an up to date insight on a market so that we are able to make a more well informed real estate decision

How many homes are for sale in your neighborhood, how long have they been on the market, and how many buyers are looking? (Simply put supply and demand). This translates to actives, average days on the market (actives only), and pending sales. The relationship that we find to each other in our respective markets can give us some indication as to whether we are in a sellers, a normal, or even a buyers market. This can be done on a more local basis, being able to look at your neighborhood by itself.



The chart above tracks the number of actives (homes for sale) and the number of pendings, (homes that are in contract with buyers). The sample was taken from 34 cities within Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Pendings have dropped in comparison to actives since July of 2005. While the inventory (homes for sale) have climbed at a very aggressive pace since then. Simply put, there are more homes on the market with fewer buyers.

We currently have a 6.5 month supply of homes in the area. How does this compare historically? "A state of equilibrium" is considered 6 months, a point at which you would have an equal number of sellers and buyers. Considerably less, would be considered a "seller's" market, while anything more than that number would be considered a "buyer's" market. Since 1988, our low in California has been 1.3 months in April of 2004. It was even less than that in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our high was in February of 1991 at 18.8 months. The long run average has been 6.9 months. (Statistics are from C.A.R.)

See how your City's doing.


We, as real estate agents, have access to the MLS, and are able to extract up to the minute information to give us a better clue as to what’s really happening in your neighborhoods.

Some of what you see is seasonal, some unique to this market.

The graph above measures a very large area. A sample this large, translates to being able to make only very broad general conclusions about this market overall. It doesn’t necessarily tell the story of the market in your particular neighborhood.

In reality, there are markets within markets, different neighborhoods within cities. Not every neighborhood in Berkeley, for example, will be quite the same. Some neighborhoods will have stronger markets than others. The right house, presented well, in the right neighborhood, and at the right price continues to bring multiple offers. However, in most cases, homes are staying on the market longer, we’re seeing price reductions, and there are more homes coming onto an already saturated market.

What can you make of all this? Making your real estate decisions should be based on up to date information that reflects the conditions of your specific neighborhood. Ask your well informed real estate agent to talk to you about the market trends and conditions of your neighborhood before making that all important decision to buy or sell a home.

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, CAR, Housing Inventory, Months Supply

Yoshi's, the Bay Area's jazz oasis, holds a mega-celebration of its 10th anniversary at Jack London Square. See David Rubien's article in full from the San Francisco Chronicle's Date Book HERE.

I've been going to Yoshi's for years. In my opinion, it is, BY FAR, the best venue for Jazz in the San Francisco Bay Area. Practically every major jazz artist has played there. What the move to Jack London Square has brought us is an "acoustically pure room with state-of-the-art engineering and not a bad seat in the 310-capacity house."

"Yoshi's is one of the best jazz clubs in the world," says Kenny Burrell, the guitar master who celebrated his 75th birthday with a special concert at the club last summer. "They have the best sound system, the best equipment, and they take extra effort to present the music to the public in the best possible way."

"Oscar Peterson's been here three times since I've been here. ... Yoshi's carries a lot of magic."

Writing on his Web site after playing at Yoshi's in 2001, Peterson -- arguably the greatest living jazz pianist -- said, "There are jazz clubs and then there are JAZZ CLUBS! Having played most of the major such places in the world, in my view, Yoshi's, in Oakland, California, epitomizes what a serious jazz club should be."

"Yoshi's has the best talent, the best acoustics, the best atmosphere in the Bay Area." - Fortune Magazine.

Pianist-singer Diana Krall, one of the top-selling acts in jazz, has been back to Yoshi's three times and she's returning again June 8-9. "She likes it here," Williams says.

To celebrate the club's 10th birthday as an institution in Jack London Square, a number of promotions are planned, including Monday's release of a 10-song CD compilation of songs performed live at Yoshi's.

What's coming up on Yoshi's Calender.

All that Jazz and Sushi.

Labels: Bay Area Jazz, Diana Krall, Jack London Square, Kenny Burrell, Oscar Peterson, San Francisco Jazz, Sushi Restaurant, Yoshi's Jazz Club

There's an article written by Eral Swift in today's Parade Magazine that's definitely worth reading. Read the entire article HERE.

"How the housing market looks in the coming year will largely depend on who is doing the looking: For many Americans, this will be a terrific time to buy a house, even as others struggle to hold on to their homes, and thousands—perhaps hundreds of thousands—succumb to foreclosure."

"Sellers will have a tougher time closing a deal and may have to settle for less as prices around the country stagnate or slide. Mortgages will be tougher to come by. And builders—already competing with a fat inventory of existing homes—will see demand for their wares further erode."

"A good piece of the current slump was just inevitable: Most experts had predicted that the spectacular run-up in home prices from 2003 to 2005 simply couldn’t last—and, in some places, had soared well beyond the reach of most buyers and common sense."

"The superheated markets of those years—Las Vegas, Phoenix and much of California, for example—are now nosing into corrections."

"Mind you, real estate is local, and parts of the country will actually see appreciation—a fact that is masked by gloomy national statistics."

"With fewer qualified buyers on the scene, an already-fat housing inventory will take longer to slim down, Lereah says, (chief economist for the National Association of Realtors). How much longer? Months, he suggests. Years, Kenneth Rosen worries, (a professor of real estate and urban economics at the University of California, Berkeley)."

"If anyone stands to gain from the mess, it’s buyers with good credit, who should be able to navigate the lending straits without hassle, find plenty of inventory to choose from and have the luxury of time to mull their purchases."

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, DataQuick, Housing Inventory, Months Supply, Real Estate Cycles, San Francisco Chronicle