It's a Two-fer

Two interesting articles in the Chron today. The first reports plummeting Bay Area home prices and increased home sales. Regular visitors to this (cyber)space know what's going on here. Bottom feeding on short sales and REOs is pulling the median price lower, while the proliferation of those same types of sales accounts for an increase in total units sold. Some may remember that at the beginning of the market decline, the opposite conditions were present, as still-strong upper-end sales pulled the median price up, as a steep decline in sales at the lower end caused a drop in total units. It appears the lower end has finally gotten low enough to begin a reversal of the trend.

The second article, somewhat apropos of that last point, reports that the number of people who can afford a home in California is up dramatcally. They may not be buying yet, but this trend would seem to bode well for the market's overall recovery.