Prices have been falling over the year and seem to be near bottoming out, but current figures illustrate that that real estate in Atlanta is not quite out of the bind yet. Early December figures showed the median listing price at $193,900, down 2.6% from November and down 5.3% from last year.

During the third quarter, homes for sale in Atlanta were seen to be spending more time on the market in all but one category: homes for sale under $200,000. The median number of days on the market overall was 149, up by 19 days from figures from the third quarter of last year.

The median sales price has continued to see declines as well. In the third quarter it was $176,00, down from $190,000 in 2008 and $225,000 in 2007, though up slightly from the second quarter's figure of $168,000. Year-to-date, the median sales price for Atlanta real estate is $167,000, down from 2008's year-to-date figure of $200,000. Sales volume has been up, at 9,132 in the third quarter, up from just 9,000 in the second quarter and less than 6,500 in the first quarter.

Results from the second quarter of 2009 show that the Fredericksburg real estate market was showing slight signs of improvement. In the entire Frederick County, the average price of a home sold rose from $265,400 in the year's first quarter to $273,000, while the inventory of homes on the market declined.

According to the Metropolitan Regional Information System data provider, in November, the average sale price in Frederick County was at $259,688, down by 6.1% from figures from the prior year. The median sale price was not much better, at $234,450, off 2.8% from 2008. The two areas where the market did show improvement was in sales volume and days on the market.

The number of sales in November in Frederick County was 216, up by 58.8% from last year's volume, and the average number of days homes for sale in Fredericksburg are spending on the market had fallen to 104 in November, down nearly 25% from 2008. The total sales volume in a dollar amount in November was up by almost 50% in the month, most likely as many homebuyers were spurred on by the government's extended plan to offer tax incentives for home buyers.

According to the Daily Californian, in September, home prices in Berkeley were down 12% from the prices a year earlier. But that decline was much less than those seen in other areas in California. Data showed that prices in southern Berkeley had, in fact, risen by 31% percent, while prices in the other portion of the city fell by 32%.

According to data from the California Association of Realtors, October's median price this year for homes for sale in Berkeley was $621,500, down from $675,000 in October of last year, a 7.9% decline. However, that single-digit decline bests most other cities in Alameda County. Contrast it with Dublin or Hayward, where prices were off by 15%, or Union City, where price declines surpassed 20%.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently noted that higher-priced real estate in Berkeley is beginning to heat up again as bidding wars escalate, with more buyers in the market looking to take advantage of government-stimulus money tax rebates. One two-bedroom house was said to have had eight bids in mid-October and sold for $136,000 more than its asking price. The Chronicle quoted local realtor Tracy Sichterman as saying 31% of Berkeley homes sold worth more than $1 million were given all-cash offers.

Sales volume has seen an increase, as many hesitant buyers have been urged into the market with the government's stimulus plan to offer up to $8,000 in tax rebates to qualified buyers encouraging them on. According to the North Carolina Association of Realtors, sales volume in the triangle area of Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area was up by 6% year over year in September. Average costs, however, were down by 14%, as is the case in many markets, a worse performance than the overall state average, which was down just by 7%.

According to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service data, pending sales in Raleigh for September were up 11% from pending sales in 2008 for the month. For the year to date, however, pending sales are on pace to be below 2008 volume by more than 13%. Homes for sale in Raleigh that closed in September was actually down by 9.1% from September 2008 figures, and off by 23.8% from September 2007 figures.

Raleigh real estate is also spending a longer time on the market before moving, on average. In September, Raleigh homes were spending 101 days on the market before being sold on average, an increase of 12.4% from September 2008, and increase of more than 30% from September 2007. Likewise, the inventory supply also is up, with September holding a 9.5 months' supply, up from just 8.9 months in September 2008 and 6.3 months in September 2007.

Though the greater Hawaiian real estate market has been off greatly since the beginning of the financial crisis and the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble, with vastly lower and falling prices, rising foreclosures and inventory and slowing sales, recent figures in Honolulu show that the state's capital may now -- or if not now, soon -- be through the worst of it.

According to the Star Bulletin, real estate in Honolulu is picking up as both sales volume and home prices rose in September. Single-family home sales were up by 13.5% year-over-year, with 244 transactions, while the median sales price rose 1.7% to $590,000. Though not a steep increase in price, the increase is a welcome change from the continual price slides many Hawaiian markets continue to witness. Condominium sales, more popular in Hawaii than in most markets, were also up by 13.1%, with 345 transactions, while their median prices also rose, by 3% to $305,000.

"Consumer psychology appears to be decisively turning for the better as the housing market has been showing signs of bottoming, if it is not already past a bottom point," Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, told the Star Bulletin.

The yearly statistics are still down, though, as total single-family home sales are down 16.3% are condo sales are down 26.3%. Through September, the median price paid for homes for sale in Honolulu on Oahu in 2009 is $575,000; the price for a condo is $300,000. Statewide, combined home and condominium sales in the second quarter were flat for the year, suggesting that perhaps the Honolulu real estate market has made it through the worst of the down market. http://www.starbulletin.com

The downturn of the housing market that has plagued virtually the rest of the U.S. has dropped its effects on the Kansas City real estate market too. Like many other regions in the U.S., real estate in Kansas City is seeing a dropoff in home values and sales prices while its sales volume makes a rebound.

According to the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors, in October, there were 2,336 sales in the region, up remarkably since the beginning of 2009, when that figure was just over 1,000, but down slightly from the year's peak of 2,516 in July. Though volume was up, no doubt thanks in part to buyers rushing to take advantage of the government's stimulus program offering tax credits of up to $8,000 to select home buyers, prices are still lagging behind.

In October, the average sale price was just over $158,000 in the region, down from almost $160,000 last year. Existing homes were down to $147,769 in October this year, down from $150,902 at the same time last year. Supply is down slightly too, as some of the inventory begins to clear off the market. The inventory of existing homes for sale stood at 13,139 at the end of October, down from 13,556 in September. The market now has a 7.4-month supply of homes for sale in Kansas City on the market, down from eight months this summer.

Like much of the country, the market for real estate in Portland has suffered over the past two years as a result of the greater fluctuations in the national housing market brought on by the global recession. There has been a rise in foreclosures and home prices have fallen.

Recently, trends show Portland is still treading water, but significantly below pre-crash levels. According to an article in the Portland Business Journal at the end of October, the most recent statistics show Portland real estate still down. Prices improved in August compared with July, but only by 0.3%. Additionally, those price levels, though higher than July, were 12.5% lower than prices from 2008, quoting the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index.

Still, figures show the market for homes for sale in Portland is besting the Seattle market to the north. Additionally, further information from the Case-Shiller report covering September sales showed prices still down year over year by 12.5% versus 9.4% nationally, making it seventh worst among the 20 large cities Case-Shiller analyzed.

The Oregon Association of Realtors reports that the median sales price for a home in the area was $260,000 in August, down from $290,000 in 2008, a drop in price of 10.3%. It also reported, however, the sales volume was up in Portland by 27.3%, much higher than the region's average of just 7.1% and the national average of just 2.5%, a promising sign that many are looking to take advantage and buy during the down market.

Though real estate in Tennessee may have been hit quite as hard as in some of the markets on the coast where prices have plummeted, losing their value by 100% or more, the state has nonetheless suffered its setbacks since the onset of the financial crisis in America. During this year's second quarter, the state continued to lose jobs, and its unemployment rate now stands at 10.5%, not a good indicator, as those without jobs will continue to struggle to be able to pay their mortgages and may face foreclosure.

The rural areas have suffered more than the cities in Tennessee and more foreclosures have been seen here, particularly in areas where there have been heavy losses of jobs in the manufacturing industry. However, permits for construction of new single-family homes in the state rose 7.3% in 2009's second quarter from the first, showing that perhaps construction is in its initial stages of returning to the state.

Prices of homes for sale in Tennessee were up in more metropolitan areas, like the Nashville and Knoxville regions, in the second quarter, their first increase seen since 2005, according to a report from Tennessee Housing Market, a report published by the Business and Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University. Sales were up 6.4% in Nashville and by 3.6% in Knoxville in the second quarter; however, sales had actually fallen in the Memphis area.

Data show foreclosures still high in Tennessee, though the state's average still remain below the national average. Past-due mortgages in Tennessee rose about 1% in the second quarter, from 9.1% in the first quarter to 10.2%, which accounted also for the largest quarterly increase since 1988. Inventory of foreclosed homes now makes up nearly 2% of mortgages, another high not seen for at least 30 years. Overall, Tennessee real estate seems better poised to make a comeback in the next several years than many other surrounding markets, depending on whether unemployment figures begin to rebound soon. http://frank.mtsu.edu/~berc/pdfs/housingbrief2Q09.pdf

The market that makes up a large share of what is known as the "Big Island," or Hawaii, Kona real estate has suffered many of the same setbacks as other real estate markets in Hawaii, with lower prices and home values, rising foreclosures and falling sales volumes. This area of the island is more of a tourist/commercial district and as such, its market fluctuates differently than the more residential areas of the big island like Hilo.

As would be expected during a recession, tourism numbers have been off to Hawaii as visitors choose to stay home to save their money or travel to destinations nearer to home. This hit to one of the island's major industries has hurt many homeowners. The Star Bulletin cited the slumping tourism industry as possibly one of the state's "greatest commercial real estate concerns."

Experts say that real estate in Kona and in Hawaii in general still has farther to fall before it reaches its bottom, according to the Star Bulletin. In 2009's second quarter, Hawaii saw a fall in home and condo sales of 37.8%, a steep drop. The Big Island was home to the ZIP code with the highest drop in sales during July of this year, in Ocean View, which fell almost 50%.
Foreclosures in Hawaii are troublesome too, up in volume by 63% in September, though they seem to be leveling off, as the increase in foreclosures over the summer months on a yearly basis ranged from 158% to more than 425%.  Pacific Business News cited Kailua-Kona as the leader in foreclosures in the first half of the year, with 313 filings, nearly one in 50 homes and an increase of more than 1,500% from the first half of 2008, when there were just 19.  Many of the homes for sale in Kona now on the market are previously foreclosed homes.

Part of the the infamous Orange County, real estate in Irvine, California, has been hit like the rest of the Southern California region. However, as of recent months, activity has been picking up in Irvine and there have been several positive trends, suggesting the city may be past the worst of the downfall in the local real estate market.

According to the Orange County Register, for a recent 22-day period ending Oct. 13, sales volume in Irvine was up 13% from a year ago to 207 sales. Throughout all of Orange County, sales volume was also up, but by a lesser clip of just 2%. Of Irvine's eight ZIP codes, four had sales gains year over year, while four saw gains in median sales prices. The change in prices ranged over the eight ZIP codes from -20.8% to 43.9%, while the changes in the areas of sales volume ranged from being down by 37.5% to being up by 184.6%.

In a previous period ending near the beginning of October, Irvine's sales were up 21% compared with sales from a a year ago. It's safe to say that the Irvine real estate market is outperforming the Orange County market substantially.

However, Orange County's pricey real estate has not been exempt from the foreclosures that have plagued much of the country in recent months, and many homes for sale in Irvine have been claimed by foreclosure. According to the Orange County Register quoting First American Corelogics, as of August of this year, 6.9% of mortgage holders in the county were 90 days or more past due on their loans, an increase of 77% from 2008 rates, though Orange County's rates are still lower than the U.S. average of 7.1% and California's average rate of 9.8%. The foreclosure rate in Orange County stands at 2.5%, up by 58% from 2008's rates but still lower than California's overall foreclosure rate of 3.5%