And you thought the Sonoma Coast was expensive....

Here's a place for $135M - and it's not even close to the waterfront!

But I think the best part is that the quoted expert hyphenated her name - with the same name...

Click here to see Laurie Moore-Moore's comments on the luxury property.

The once-hyper market is experiencing a soft landing near historical norms

The media continues to buffer their harsh outlook on the housing market, as indicated by a few of the articles below and those to come.

Check out this article which states the NAR (National Association of Realtors) expects a slower years in terms of sales, minor fluctuations in prices, and stabilization near or below present levels.

Activity is certainly increasing here on the Coast and while we generally follow the trend, it appears that we may be recovering more quickly than those areas that continued to see sales growth well after we took a hit. Most of the sub-million dollar properties have already seen reductions and it seems to be a good opportunity for those who waited.

CALIFORNIA HOUSING STARTS REFLECT NORMALIZING MARKET

New home construction in California declined during May 2006, falling 21.2 percent when compared with the construction pace recorded one year earlier, the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) recently reported. Despite the decline, housing starts continue to edge up on a month-to-month basis, suggesting builders are on track to produce 170,000 to 180,000 new housing units in California during 2006, the fourth-highest number of starts in the past 17 years.

Based on the number of building permits issued, 15,263 new housing units were started throughout the state in May, with single-family units accounting for 75.8 percent of the starts. While single-family production is expected to remain strong in most of Southern California, starts are anticipated to trend downward in San Diego, the San Joaquin Valley, the Sacramento region, and the Bay Area, according to the report.

Click here for the complete story

10 years...

Over the past few months, I've been hearing more and more people mention Zillow.com when discussing current home prices and trends. I was on the website again today, and while most of the data for our area is incomplete or entirely inaccurate (DO NOT rely on Zillow.com for specific home values on the Coast), I did find some interesting historical data showing how well real estate has treated us here in California - and Bodega Bay in particular. I haven't confirmed the data but the general numbers add up.

Here's what was shown over the past 10 years (percent growth):
ZIP 94923: 306.0% (15.0% annualized)
Bodega Bay: 301.2% (14.9% annualized)
Sonoma County: 240.6% (13.0% annualized)
California: 269.8% (14.0% annualized)
United States: 108.5% (7.6% annualized)