Despite the struggling economy, every month more than 5000 people buy a house in the Bay Area.  What do these people know that others may not?  Are these people investing in a declining market? It appears that despite the economy there are plenty of people who've decided that it is time to buy.  Many of these buyers are bargain hunters that are buying now because they perceive that they're are good deals out there.
     MDA Dataquick analyst Andrew LePage suggest, "that at least two thirds of the market is split between investors and first time buyers.  And, that the balance is mainly people that have to buy because of a new job or other life events."
     Also, many homes here have returned to the realm of reasonable prices, with the median Bay Area home hovering below $300,000.  The Bay Area median price peaked in the spring of 2007 at $720,000.  This reflects a huge shift toward sales in more affordable neighborhoods.
     People who buy homes without planning to live in them remain a steady and increasing force in the market.  While it's difficult to pin down exactly which buyers are investors, one sign is the address to which new property tax bills are sent.  Two years ago, about 10 percent of home buyers had tax bills sent to an address other than the newly purchased house.  By February of this year that was up to 18.7 percent.
     In Marin County, in the last couple of weeks, sales have definitely picked up.  It's taking at least 10 days to get a reputable home inspection company out to a property for inspections where just weeks ago there wasn't any wait.  Is this just a "seasonal" pick  up, or have we stopped bouncing off the bottom?



Sign(s) of the times? A cluster of real estate signs heading onto Belvedere Island Sunday May 17, 2009

(resources for this article are the  S.F.Chronicle and Dataquick Systems)