Real Estate News for Monday, December 12th, 2005

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Low-cost housing may get boost. An ordinance would have developers set aside affordable homes or pay a fee. Faced with a need to build enough affordable housing to start a small city, officials have found a way to get it. Fast-growing Fontana is looking at becoming the first city in the Inland Empire to pass an "inclusionary housing" ordinance, forcing developers to set aside a chunk of their new homes for low- and moderate-income residents, or pay a substantial fee allowing affordable housing to be built elsewhere. More than 100 California communities have enacted some form of inclusionary zoning, and cities such as Redlands and San Jacinto are considering charging developers fees to get affordable housing built within their redevelopment areas. But the need in Fontana has pushed officials to consider more -- including compelling builders to set aside 15 percent of their projects for affordable homes. With its wealth of remaining open land, more than 15,000 new homes can still be built within the city, officials said. That availability has Fontana at the top of the most recent state Regional Housing Needs Assessment for cities in San Bernardino County needing affordable housing: 7,297 units, or 13 percent of its current housing stock. Click here to read more.

UCLA forecasts slow housing market, but no recession. The annual UCLA Anderson Forecast said that despite problems in the housing sector, there are "few jobs to lose in an already moribund manufacturing sector, (so) no true recession is foreseen." Despite that, the report sees the slowdown lasting several years, with as many as 500,000 construction jobs and 300,000 financial sector positions lost. In California, the UCLA Anderson report says the housing market will cool off, consumer spending will slow and there may be some job loss in construction and other real estate related industries. It forecasts that the state, however, "probably will not see a full-blown recession." Click here to read more.

High housing prices are driving residents from many U.S. metro areas. Home prices in many American metro areas have soared, and many of their residents are either pulling up stakes and moving to lower priced regions -- many more are thinking about it. The incredible gains made in home prices in California have also resulted in mass exoduses from the main coastal cities to other California towns and to Las Vegas and Phoenix, where houses are much more affordable (although gaining fast). Nearly 70,000 residents of the Los Angeles area moved inland to the Riverside/San Bernardino area in 2004. That was added to by a net outflow from San Diego to Riverside of 16,751. The difference in the price of the median LA home ($553,200) and Riverside ($387,300) helps explain the direction of the flow. And the flow is accelerating. In 1999, the net difference was only about 33,000. The migration has bolstered Riverside prices. They've more than doubled in the past three years. And, in turn, Riverside residents are starting to take their leave for places like Phoenix, where 1,499 more Riverside residents moved to than from in 2004 and where, despite the hottest housing market in the country, a median priced house still sells for just $268,000. Click here to read more.

~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
1655 E. Sixth St.
Beaumont, CA 92223
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