While the Southland and especially Fresno and the interior counties are feeling the lion's share of the mortgage mauling, San Francisco and The Bay Area in general are fairly stable. A mass of new condos are going online, though in the higher brackets. Recently minted FHA loan limits may break a log-jam in one segment of the housing market, while a strong local economy may yet spare homeowners from ARM shocks.
News stories around the nine counties:
FHA Loan Limit Ceiling Rises for 14 California Counties
The new maximum applied to Santa Clara County, and to much of the Bay Area and the Central Coast, including San Benito, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The limit rose to $662,500 in Sonoma County and to $557,500 in Solano County.
Median Price of California Home falls by One-Fifth, Sales off Nearly a Third Over January 2007
The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during January 2008 was $430,370, a 21.9 percent decrease from the $551,220 median for January 2007, C.A.R. reported. The January 2008 median price fell 9.7 percent compared with December’s revised $476,380 median price.
California Foreclosures Surge, Stockton National Epicenter
California had 57,158 properties reporting at least one default filing, the most of any state.
