San Mateo
A suburban city in the San Francisco Bay area San Mateo, California, shares the name of the county in which it lies. It is one of the area’s largest suburbs, home to a population of just under 100,000. Residents tend to be upper-middle class on average, with the city having an annual household median income measured at around $80,000 in 2008. San Mateo real estate reflects this, as houses are generally more than half a million dollars. The city has suffered from a battered real estate market since the economic downturn in the U.S. began, seeing a decrease in home values and an increase in inventory and foreclosures.

According to the xxx Association of Realtors, in the first quarter of this year, which includes January, February and March, there were 210 new listings of San Mateo homes for sale and a total inventory at the end of the quarter of 173 single-family homes for sale. The quarter saw a total of 104 sales closed upon in San Mateo, up from the previous year, when that figure was just 77. The homes sold during the first quarter spent an average of 46 days on the market before closing, an improvement from a year earlier, when that figure was 66 days. Prices, too, have shown improvement year-over-year. The average sales price in the first quarter was around $848,000, up from around $763,000 a year ago. The median price was up significantly as well, at $727,500 from just $640,000.

Common-interest developments, or condos, in San Mateo showed similar different, and less positive, trends. There were 138 new listings of condos for sale in San Mateo and the quarter saw total inventory of 141 condos for sale, higher than last year’s 101 condos on the market. There were 57 condos sold in the first quarter, down by just two sales annually. The condos that sold spent an average of 85 days on the market before selling, up from 56 days on the market in the first quarter of 2009. Prices for San Mateo condos were down all around. The average price in the first quarter stood at around $417,000, down more than $50,000 from a year earlier. The median price stood at $350,000, down from $440,000 in the first quarter of 2009.

Looking more specifically at the statistics from March, the most recent month for which they are available, San Mateo had 83 new listings and an inventory of 173 single-family homes for sale. There were 45 sales in March and homes spent an average of 53 days on the market before selling. March’s average selling price was over $954,000 and the median selling price was $809,000.

The market for real estate in Auburn, California, in the northern inland area just northeast of Sacramento, has continued to suffer throughout 2009. After the financial crisis hit the U.S., many markets nationwide suffered setbacks, seeing prices fall and listings and foreclosures rise, with many unable to sell their homes for what was owed on them.

One slightly positive sign in the Auburn real estate market that showed up in January 2010 was a drop in listings. As of Jan. 18, there were 169 Auburn homes for sale on the market. This figure is down from more than 220 home for sale in the area in September 2009, showing that some of the excess inventory may have finally cleared out. Of these homes for sale, 13 were bank-owned and 55 were active short sales.

The range of homes currently on the market stretches from as little as $143,500 up to $2.5 million. In January, the median asking price for homes on the market was $379,950, down more than 8% from September 2009, when that figure was $415,000. The average price was also down, though at a lesser clip of 2.3%. In January, it was at over $510,000 from more than $522,000 in September. The price per square foot in January had fallen nearly 4% from September, to about $200 per square foot.

In the last quarter of the year in 2009, there were 73 homes sold in Auburn. This was a drop of more than 17% from the third quarter, when there were 88 homes sold. The average sale price in the fourth quarter showed signs of slow stabilization: It was just over $326,000 versus over $332,500 in the third quarter, a drop of almost 2%. Median sales prices fell too, though at a slower rate of just 0.3%, from $300,000 to $299,000. The average number of days on the market in Auburn increased in the fourth quarter too, when it was 121 days, versus just 103 days in the third quarter.

Communities throughout North Virginia are continuing to experience slow real estate markets as a result of the recession that began in the fall of 2008.  Although real estate markets in North Virginia have remained stable, with only slight declines in the past months, most markets are still experiencing very little real estate activity, with many realtors and associated businesses making desperate measures to jump-start the real estate market.  Commercial real estate markets are also maintaining fairly low vacancy rates, but very little commercial real estate activity has taken place in the past months.  Although declines have slowed, many experts are still unsure whether North Virginia real estate markets have truly hit bottom and are poised for the rebound sometime in early 2010.

The Daily Progress newspaper in Charlottesville, North Virginia, has reported that despite little commercial real estate activity taking place in the community, Charlottesville has been able to maintain a stable commercial real estate market with relatively low vacancy rates.  Nevertheless, when vacancies are created, landlords are still having trouble finding new tenants to take the newly created vacancy.  Circuit City, one of the major retail store anchors in the Albemarle Square mall remains empty since Circuit City’s closure last year.  Retail stores make up a large portion of the commercial real estate market in Charlottesville, yet many real estate experts are worried that many stores are in jeopardy of closures due to the recent lack of consumer spending in the region.  Surveys have reported that consumer spending in North Virginia is significantly lower than the national average.  Many experts are worried that this may pose a major problem for the stability of the commercial real estate in North Virginia.

The Alexandria Times has also reported the evident struggles in many North Virginia real estate markets, despite stability over the past months.  Real estate levels in the city of Alexandria haven’t declined significantly over the past months, but real estate activity still remains fairly sluggish.  The Alexandria Times has reported that many local realtors are reporting financial struggles in their own businesses, and many realtors in Alexandria are even resorting to creating partnerships with local businesses to promote real estate activity.  A local car dealership in Alexandria recently promoted a August special where a car buyer would be awarded a 3-bedroom rambler with the purchase of the car.  Many realtors are also moving from listing the time it takes to sell a home from DOM (days-on-the-market) to MOM (months-on-the-market) and sometimes YOM (years-on-the-market).  Many experts are attributing the sluggish activity to high interest rates and high tax property taxes.

Savannah homes for sale continue to see their market prices dropping in a trend that is beneficial to potential homebuyers but detrimental to people looking to sell their prime pieces of Savannah real estate in the current market.  As a result of the global recession that has hurt the national real estate market for dozens of months on end, analysts expect that the area’s home prices will continue to plummet as long as the nation continues further into recession.  Adam Van Brimmer of the Savannah Morning News wrote on November 15, 2009, that “local sales dipped below 300 homes in October for the first time since February.”

However, a glimmer of hope created by the extended government income tax credit incentive may be the change necessary to turn around the Savannah real estate market.  Combined with new Georgia incentives, “move-up buyers now can get $8,300 in tax credits (the state offers $1,800) at mortgage rates near five percent on homes priced at their lowest levels since the slump began. List prices in many Savannah neighborhoods are 10 percent below what they were in the spring.”  However, even Savannah’s most prestigious has not managed to escape harm from the slumping economy.  West Chatham, the area’s top-selling locale, “posted an average sales price of $167,180, down from $194,565 in September, despite steady sales activity.”

Real estate in Savannah has seen some positive growth, according to recent statistics and figures released by Yahoo! Real Estate on November 15, 2009.  While the price of new homes and homes for sale remained even with previous months, foreclosed properties jumped to a median of $116,800, an increase of almost two percent from the previous month.  More interesting is the constant increase of market valuation in the Savannah area.  Looking over the last year since November 2008, the value of properties in Savannah rose from about $125,000 in 2008 to almost $129,000 today.