SAN FRANCISCO - The Lusk Center for Real Estate and the chief economist for the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) made separate forecasts at PCBC 2007: The Premier Building Show, Thursday offering similar opinions at San Francisco's Moscone Center.
"Nationally, the basic story is uncertainty," says Raphael Bostic, interim associate director of the USC Lusk for Real Estate. "[Housing] growth is slowing down, but the stock market is at record levels. There are a lot of mixed messages."
"The West," Bostic continues, "has been and remains the leader in housing prices."
Bostic adds that typical top markets in California, Nevada, and Arizona have been surpassed by growth bursts in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Bostic predicts that there are "some clouds on the horizon" for the California housing market.
Delores Conway, director of Casden Real Estate, echoed Bostic's prediction of uncertainty in California.
"In Southern California, prices have leveled off," Conway explains. "The Inland Empire was overbuilt, and in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ocean County, prices are 10 percent down."
Conway adds that Northern California locales, such as San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Oakland, sales are "robust."
Overall, the Lusk Center for Real Estate reports that home price appreciation has slowed in all major California cities. In Bakersfield and Fresno, sales are down 30 to 40 percent. In addition, apartment markets are tight; apartment occupancies are 96 percent or higher, except in Sacramento and the Inland Empire.