AGENT MLS HOME FINDER

The Berkeley real estate market seems to be generally recovering from the ramifications of the general economic downturn, although there are a number of weak spots in the region’s economy. According to a October 15, 2009 article in the Mercury News, there are still some problems for the Bay Area in general. The piece, which was written by Eve Mitchell and subsequently published in the Mercury News, found that “More homeowners in the Bay Area received a notice of foreclosure – the first step in the foreclosure process – in September compared with a year ago while at the same time the number of foreclosed homes that became bank-owned properties declined. Last month, 3,916 homeowners received notices of default, a  116.4 percent increase from a year ago, but 2,484 foreclosed homes became bank-owned properties, a 41.6 percent decrease from a year ago.”

An additional, often overlooked aspect of real estate in Berkeley is commercial real estate, that seems to be facing a number of challenges. According to a November 9, 2009 article published in the Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune, “Two Bay Area-based banks have failed in the last 11 days – which tops the total for the prior nine years – a warning of potential woes to come for the reeling banking sector locally…’There will be several more failures, but primarily on the community bank level,’ said William Fitzpatrick, an equity analyst with Wisconsin-based Optique Capital, an investment firm. ‘Community banks are where you have a concentration of commercial real estate loans.’ ‘There is some anecdotal evidence that commercial real estate is becoming more of a problem,’ Dorway said.”

On the other hand, Oakland home sales  and home prices seem to be rallying, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times and the Mercury News. The piece, written by Eve Mitchell on October 15, 2009, stated that “The Bay Area’s September home sales and the median sales price both edged up from August to September as home buyers scrambled to take advantage of a popular federal income tax credit for first-time home buyers set to expire at the end of November.”