This morning I came across an article on CNNMoney.com. They predicted the top 10 worst housing market for 2009 across the country and California had the unfortunate distinction of having 8 out of 10 spots. 
Ranked as number 6 for the worst real estate markets in the country was the Santa Ana - Anaheim area. The Median sales price for 2008 was stated at $532,140. The prediction for '09 was a 23.7% decline. The prediction for 2010 was a 3.5% decline. If these predictions are accurate, that would leave us with the median sales price around $391,812 at the end of 2010.
Couple things to note from this report - it's important again to remember the definition of median sales price as I discussed in my previous post. We still have a tremendous amount of distress inventory to consume and much of it is in the under $750,000 price points.
These bank owned properties and short sales that will make up a tremendous amount of our 2009 activity will result in a lower median sales price. I am not saying that prices won't decline, but again, it's important to look at the meaning of these numbers in the right context.
The other question that I find confusing is what is meant by Santa Ana - Anaheim area. Did they look at the numbers from those two metro areas? They don't appear to be referring to Orange County as a whole and Santa Ana has been in the top of the worst performing zip codes in the county so that I'm not sure we can say these are county wide predictions. The news is not good nonetheless.
Other California cities that were facing some unpleasant predictions include Los Angeles (ranked as the worst real estate market in the country), Stockton, Riverside, Sacramento, Fresno, San Diego and Bakersfield.
The only two cities that were out of the Golden State were Miami - Miami Beach and Washington, D.C.
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