Mortgage rates hover near a 10-year low, helping and prompting many renters to leap into home ownership. Builders and Realtors say the influx of buyers from less affordable regions, especially the Bay Area, remains intense this winter. It helped push resales of homes in Sacramento County up nearly 33 percent in January over a year ago, while new home sales in January jumped 57 percent over January 2000 levels, according to DataQuick Information Systems, which tracks escrow closings. The worst of the U.S. economic slowdown, which has yet to hit the capital region in a big way, might already be over, some economists believe. And even if the national slowdown isn't over soon, some experts doubt it will hurt the local housing market much this year.
Home builders are nearing a lot crunch as land zoned for housing is gobbled up, some analysts say.
Mix all of these ingredients together and the outcome, some experts say, is likely to be another hot capital region housing market in which prices this year could again rise by double digits. La Due of Milpitas, are out scouring the housing market now to buy before what they anticipate will be a spring frenzy. He works in construction, she in medical records, and both expect to find work here. Though the rate of home price increases is abating in the Bay Area, housing analysts note, the market continues to show strength despite several years of rapid appreciation. And up and down the state, the less expensive interior regions are seeing a surge.