Bodega Bay Bicycle & Pedestrian Trail

ATTEND THE MEETING IN SEBASTOPOL ON SEPTEMBER 27 TO ADVOCATE FOR FUNDS IN BODEGA BAY. Meeting at Sebastopol Veterans Hall (282 High Street) from 6:30 to 8:30.


The Coastal Conservancy will be meeting on September 20 to consider authorizing a grant to Sonoma County Regional Parks to its review of the potential trail through Bodega Bay.

The purpose of this project is to develop a safe alternative to the automobile for bicyclists and pedestrians throughout the community of Bodega Bay.

There is a lengthy but informative conceptual improvement plan by LandPeople on the Sonoma County website - click here for further updated information and the project report.

Financial projections run from $6M-10M for the trail that would run from Salmon Creek to Doran Park with a wooden boardwalk over the harbor from Porto Bodega to Lucas Wharf.

NAR Predicts Improved Home Sales

Even with wacky and unpredictable factors influencing the real estate market these days, NAR has confidence that many important factors are aligned to indicate good potential for a much-improved 4th quarter and beyond...

Click here for the article.

Existing-Homes Sales Stable In July

WASHINGTON, August 27, 2007 -
Existing-home sales were essentially unchanged in July, with increases in the West and Northeast offset by a decline in the Midwest, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, said the market is holding on despite temporary mortgage disruptions. “Home sales probably would be rising in the absence of the mortgage liquidity issues of the past two months,” he said. “Some buyers with contracts have been scrambling when loan commitments did not materialize at the last moment, while other potential buyers are simply waiting for the mortgage market to stabilize.


For more detail, click here for the entire article.

Fast Facts for August

Calif. median home price - June 07: $594,260(Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region June 07: Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,375,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region June 07: High Desert $306,310 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index - Second Quarter 07: 24 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage rates - week ending 8/23: 30-yr. fixed: 6.52%; Fees/points: 0.4% 15-yr. fixed: 6.18%; Fees/points: 0.5% 1-yr. adjustable: 5.60%; Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)

Pending Home Sales See Biggest Gain in 3 Years

The market is likely to stabilize in the months ahead, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ forward-looking indicator on pending home sales.

The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in June, was 5 percent higher from the downwardly revised May index of 97.5, but is still 8.6 percent below June 2006 when it stood at 112. The 5 percent monthly gain is the largest in more than three years, since a 6.1 percent increase was recorded in March 2004.

Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, says it’s encouraging that the increase occurred in all four major regions of the United States. “However, it is too early to say if home sales have already passed bottom,” he says. “Still, major declines in home sales are likely to have occurred already and further declines, if any, are likely to be modest given the accumulating pent-up demand.”

The index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed.

What Happened Regionally

Here’s a breakdown of what the PHSI showed across the country:
West: the PHSI increased 8.6 percent in June to 103.6, but was 5.5 percent below a year ago.
Northeast: the index rose 3.1 percent from May to 96, which is 2.4 percent lower than June 2006.
South: the index increased 4.7 percent in June to 111.6, but was 12.7 percent below a year ago.
Midwest: the PHSI rose 3.5 percent in June to 92.5, which is 8.2 percent lower than June 2006.

NAR FORECAST: HOME SALES, PRICES TO PICK UP IN 2008

It's always difficult to interpret coastal real estate in terms of what's going on nationally but it does have some impact due to people throughout the country being able to leverage their home's value in the purchase of a home on the Coast. Below, you'll see that there is some optimism for 2008 - although we're already seeing a positive direction here (we're up more than 50% compared to the first half of 2006)....

From NAR:
Lower levels of home-building activity throughout the nation will help existing home sales improve later this year and into 2008, according to NAR's most recent forecast. "Buyers now have an overwhelming advantage given the wide selection of homes available in many markets," said NAR Senior Economist Lawrence Yun. "But with profit margins coming under pressure, home builders will limit new construction well into 2008. This should help the overall inventory level to move steadily into a more balanced state." Existing-home sales are projected to total 6.11 million in 2007 and 6.37 million in 2008, down from last year's total of 6.48 million.

According to the report, prices also are expected to pick up in 2008 as inventory levels decrease. The median price of an existing single-family home is expected to drop 1.4 percent to $218,800 this year but increase 1.8 percent to $222,700 in 2008.

Pending Homes Sales Stabilize

I realize that the news is all over the place regarding the near future of real estate prices, and while the doomsayers are certainly out there we are seeing signs of a stabilizing housing market - we've actually seen that for months here on the Coast. Here's the latest from the National Association of Realtors...

While pending home sales continued to edge down this month amidst the subprime fallout, NAR expects activity in the housing market to stabilize in the near-term, according to a recent report. The Association's Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator that gauges home sales activity for upcoming months, declined for the second consecutive month in April, falling 10.2 percent from a year ago to a reading of 101.4. While a PHSI of 100 or more generally indicates a high level of home sales activity, the April PHSI was the lowest reading in four years. "It looks like we may be leaving a period of market disruptions, and for the past two months the pending home sales index has been similar in year-ago comparisons, which means home sales might ease but should be fairly stable in the months ahead," said NAR Senior Economist Lawrence Yun.