Real Estate News for Saturday, December 17th, 2005

Hi! The open house went nicely today. More people came this time than last time despite the colder weather, so I was very happy. The hours practically flew by!

Today's top real estate stories begin... now!
Home prices still climbing. November median prices in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa up compared with same month in '04. A recent round of statistics shows that throughout the area, median home prices recorded during November posted gains when compared with the same last year. Newport Beach did not have a ZIP Code where median home prices were less than $1.3 million. Median home values in both of the Costa Mesa's ZIP Codes exceeded $700,000 in November. The numbers were released Thursday by DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based company that tracks home prices. The figures include sales prices for single-family homes and condos. In Costa Mesa, it is hard to find anything under $650,000. The market in Costa Mesa is steady but not hectic. Click here to read more.


Inland area grows construction jobs. Inland Southern California is still a very good place to look for construction work, but a state report released Friday shows little across-the-board employment gains. There were 19,300 more jobs in San Bernardino and Riverside counties last month than in November 2004, the Employment Development Department reported. The total number of jobs in the two counties -- which has increased every month for more than two decades -- topped 1.2 million in November. Unemployment fell to an estimated 5 percent in November from 5.3 percent in October, and below the year-ago estimate of 5.3 percent. Much of the job growth went to people who put up new structures and workers in the financial industry who are connected to construction. There were 6,000 more construction jobs in November than there were a year ago, and the finance sector, including real estate and insurance operations, has hired 1,600 new employees in the past 12 months. November saw almost 5,000 more people working at retail jobs than in October, as stores began to add holiday help. Other kinds of jobs were lagging in the Inland Empire, and economists are certain the state's system of reporting payroll jobs is lacking. The monthly report uses a survey of 30,000 established employers across the state and often misses new businesses and smaller firms. Click here to read more.

~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
1655 E. Sixth St.
Beaumont, CA 92223
Work: 951-845-5520 Ext. 105
Fax: 951-845-4916
Cell: 909-446-2666
Toll-Free: 1-877-TINAJAN
tina.jan@coldwellbanker.com
www.tinajan.com