Carlsbad real estate market

The Carlsbad real estate market, a primarily residential portion of the larger San Diego County real estate market, continued on a streak of positive indicators, although forecasters warned that market watchers should be cautious. According to a May 25, 2010 article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, “With 11 consecutive months of growth, San Diego County is leading the nation’s largest metro areas in home-price appreciation, the widely-watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed Tuesday. In March, the index of San Diego prices was up 10.8 percent from the previous year, the biggest increase since the heady days of mid-2005.” The piece by Roger Showley also noted that “Analysts warned that San Diego’s increase may only reflect a change in market mix, not an increase in value, and that it will likely slow down and possibly reserve as additional foreclosed homes hit the market.”

Foreclosures, which typically artificially inflate the number of Carlsbad homes for sale, were set to decrease in the most recent report. According to a May 24, 2010 article from the San Diego Union-Tribune, “Mortgage defaults dipped in San Diego County last month to their lowest level since January, as distressed-property owners found alternatives to foreclosure, MDA DataQuick reported Monday.” The piece, also written by Roger Showley, went on to say that “Other signs of distress seemed to be easing, as delinquencies stopped growing, banks acted on their foreclosure backlogs, more homes were listed for sale and there were more building permits. Some real estate industry analysts read the figures as another sign the housing market is stabilizing at or near the bottom. But they cautioned the market will remain troublesome for the foreseeable future.”

These tentatively positive trends for Carlsbad real estate also extended partially to the larger Southern California area. According to a May 18, 2010 article from the Associated Press, “Home sales in Southern California declined last month for the first time in nearly two years, as buyers appeared to time their purchases to cash in on a state tax credit and supplies of affordable inland properties dwindled, a tracking firm reported Tuesday.”