California Housing's Deterioration Reduced, Fed Says

Here's what the Fed's San Francisco unit thinks about Western real estate in the latest "Beige Book" – a report on regional economic conditions that comes out eight times a year. O.C. is in the Fed's 12th District, based in San Francisco. (DISTRICT MAP HERE) This regional real estate recap is the second for 2007 (ENTIRE REPORT HERE) ...

Residential real estate markets cooled further in most parts of the District, although contacts noted scattered signs of stabilization in market conditions. In most areas, sales of new and existing homes fell further, and the inventory of available homes rose accordingly. In response, price appreciation for new and existing homes has slowed, with noticeable price declines in some areas of late, and residential construction activity has dropped substantially. Contacts in some parts of the District, notably in California, reported signs of market stabilization, in the form of a reduced rate of deterioration in market conditions; however, other reports indicated that the deterioration has not abated in hard-hit areas such as Arizona. On the nonresidential side, in a continuation of existing trends, vacancy rates generally fell and rental rates rose. Construction activity for commercial and public projects grew further, largely offsetting the decline in residential construction activity, though the pace of growth for nonresidential construction reportedly has fallen compared with last year.

Also, the Federal Reserve released the Flow of Funds report today for Q4 2006. The report shows that homeowner mortgage debt increase $148.6 Billion in Q4, 2006, or at an annualized rate of 6.4% (NSA).
This is the slowest percentage increase in homeowner mortgage debt since Q1 2000, and in dollar terms, this is the slowest increase since Q1 2002.

Housing Bubble and Real Estate Market Tracker from SA for 3/8