The upscale East Bay section of the greater San Francisco area is currently experiencing an upswing in real estate activity, growth, and sales. East Bay Real Estate is increasing in value, accompanying an uptick in value that many experts predicted as somewhat inevitable considering recent indicators and trends. Marketwire reported on July 13, 2009 that regional real estate prices increased by approximately 28% between the first and second quarters of the year. The communities of Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Piedmont, and Alameda had an increase of about 32%, a possible byproduct of the overall higher median prices in the area. There is something of a debate over whether the recent growth in the East Bay real estate market is a natural side effect of the time of year, or an indication of a significant period of growth just ahead for the East Bay area.

This sentiment is echoed by Aman Daro, Vice President of Integrated Marketing at McGuire Real Estate, who said that “This uptick in activity is somewhat expected...we typically see an increase between the first and second quarters of the year as buyers participate in the spring buying season, but 2009's increases are larger than in past years.” Daro's company also found that the sales of single family homes increased by about 66% between the first and second quarters. It seems too early to predict whether or not the East Bay real estate market has totally bottomed out, since some indicators, such as sale price, continue to lag far behind pre-recession levels.

James Temple, a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, took a slightly more optimistic approach to the state of East Bay real estate. He stated in a July 17th article that “Bay Area home prices rose month-over-month for the third straight time as sales reached their highest level in three years in June, fueling hopes that the limping real estate market is slowly beginning to heal.” Prices and interest rates remain low, and are two factors that caused Professor Esmael Adibi of Chapman University to say that “That is the very important, positive development and I believe it's going to continue”. There is not, however, a guarantee that these positive signs indicate a permanent or even long-term improvement in the East Bay real estate market - indeed, if there has been one consistent theme of the recession, it has been unpredictability.

This East Bay real estate market update by East Bay homes real estate team.