Wednesday, March 15th, 2006: Real Estate News and More!

Reports on Fed banks' economic conditions. SAN FRANCISCO: Retail sales grew and tourism activity was vigorous. Manufacturers reported generally solid demand. Residential real-estate activity generally remained at high levels but slowed in some areas. Signs of significant cooling were reported in some previously hot markets in Hawaii, Arizona and California. Commercial real-estate activity improved. Click here to read more.

The frenzy is behind us. The median price of an Orange County home rebounded to $617,000 in February, but sales continued to be sluggish, DataQuick reported Tuesday. Five of the six Southern California counties tracked by DataQuick saw home sales drop from year-ago levels. Riverside, where sales increased 4.8 percent, was the exception. Regionwide, prices were up an average of 12.9 percent from a year ago. Prices were up 27.7 percent in San Bernardino County, 18.6 percent in Ventura County, 15.6 percent in Los Angeles County and 10.2 percent in Riverside County, the real estate market tracker reported. In San Diego County, considered to be the leading edge of the Southern California market, the median home price was up 6.4 percent from a year earlier. Click here to read more.

Region's homes staying on the market longer. The number of new and existing homes sold in San Bernardino County decreased 5.4 percent last month, according to DataQuick Information Systems. But prices skyrocketed 27.7 percent from a year earlier as the median climbed to a record $373,000. San Bernardino County was the only housing market in Southern California to see its housing prices pulled into record territory last month, said John Karevoll, a DataQuick analyst. The number of housing units sold throughout Southern California was down 7 percent from February 2005, Karevoll said. Click here to read more.

~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
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