April 28, 2011: While prospects for the housing market are moderate, at best, several markets are showing signs of improvement — even some that endured the brunt of the crisis.
The National Association of Realtors released a report that found areas generally perceived as in decline, such as Southern California and parts of Florida, are actually on the road to recovery.
” ‘All real estate is local’ is a truism that applies to this local market recovery we’re witnessing because critical factors today restoring life to home sales vary greatly from one locale to another,” according to NAR’s Realtor.com website. The trade group looked at market data to identify its top turnaround cities for the spring home-buying season.
The Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan area, which was the poster child for the subprime mortgage meltdown, is poised for economic turnaround as homes fly off the market at the fifth-most rapid sales pace nationwide, Realtor.com said. Housing inventory between January and March decreased almost 8% and is up 1.17% from March 2010.
Los Angeles was the third-most searched market in the first three months of 2011.
San Diego is also recovering from the housing crisis that enveloped California from north to south, and has been for about a year.
“The median age of inventory for San Diego listings on the market in March was 79 days, about half the national median, and almost 16% lower than in February,” NAR said, adding that San Diego was the 15th most popularly searched MSA on Realtor.com in both February and March states Housing Wire.
