Though the housing market is displaying some signs of health, economists say they could be misleading.  That’s the latest word on various signs of market improvement that have recently surfaced.  In an article in the Los Angeles Business Journal written by David Haldane and published on November 9, 2009, Palos Verdes real estate showed the most dramatic change, “where sales volume increased by 533 percent.”  However, many analysts of real estate in Palos Verdes are not as impressed by this outstanding development.  “Experts viewed the rising prices as further evidence that the real estate market has stabilized, at least temporarily. But some cautioned that it may be falsely propped up by government stimulus programs that eventually will end.”

Muhammed El-Hasan wrote on October 26, 2009, in the Daily Breeze, that the South Bay region also saw an unexpected rise in median home price, perhaps due to the increase in demand for homes in the area.  One reason for the sudden increase in sales and rise of home prices is that “we are showing the month’s inventory is going way, way down, by something like 60 percent from September of last year to September of this year.”  With fewer homes on the marker, there are more bids on each home, thus creating an environment for bidding wars.

Because of its relatively protected community arrangement and the type of properties and Palos Verdes real estate, the premier peninsula area has been largely protected from large foreclosure rates that have doomed many other neighborhoods in Los Angeles and Southern California.  The Los Angeles Times reported on November 12, 2009, that “the number of foreclosures dropped in October for the third consecutive month, a sign that efforts by banks to take back troubled properties may be easing.”  A three-month decline is an unprecedented accomplishment which analysts believe at least show minor signs of market recovery.