The Newport Beach real estate market continues to face conflicting signs, although it is arguably the strongest-recovering market in the entire country. According to a November 27, 2009 article from Michael Gerrity of the Real Estate Channel, “According to the California Association of Realtors (CAR), home sales increased 1 percent in October in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home declined 3.2 percent. ‘Home sales historically trail off during the fall and winter months as we move to the off-peak season for the housing market,’ said C.A.R. President Steve Goddard. ‘However, with affordable home prices, mortgage rates hovering around 5 percent, and the extension and expansion of the federal tax credit, we expect first-time and move-up home buyers to drive home sales through the end of this year and into early 2010.”

Newport Beach home sales, as well as those in Orange County and the rest of the Golden State, increased steadily during the month of October, according to a November 25, 2009 report released by the California Association of Realtors. The press release noted that “Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled 562,400 in October at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local Realtor associations statewide. Statewide home resale activity increased 1 percent from the revised 557,050 sales pace recorded in October 2008. Sales in October 2009 increased 5.9 percent compared with the previous month.”

Perhaps the brightest news for real estate in Newport Beach came from an article written by Jon Lansner in the Orange County Register. The piece, written on November 25, 2009, found that “Housing markets in four Newport Beach ZIPs enjoyed Orange County’s biggest improvement in their Zippy market-strength rankings in the third quarter…Newport Beach 92663 had the biggest gain, up 74 spots to 4th place in the third-quarter Zippy rankings. The four Newport gainers by no means suggests that there was something magical about seaside property in the past quarter. Dana Point‘s two ZIP codes could be found among the 10 ZIPs with the biggest declines in Zippy rankings.”