The recovery of the Hillsborough real estate housing market, part of the larger Bay Area and San Francisco real estate markets, is beginning to falter despite suggestions that the region is at the forefront of a nationwide economic recovery. According to a July 15, 2010 report from the Los Angeles Times, “The Bay Area registered its third worst home sale performance for a June in 15 years last month, the latest evidence that the effects of government stimulus programs for buyers are beginning to fade. A total of 8,373 new and previously owned houses, town homes and condominiums sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month, according to the real estate research firm MDA DataQuick of San Diego. That was an increase of 1.3% from May, but a 3.1% decline from June 2009. The month-over-month increase was also more than half below the average historical increase registered between the months of May and June, DataQuick said. “The Bay Area market is getting a boost from super-low mortgage rates and a slightly friendlier lending environment for high-end borrowers,” DataQuick president John Walsh said. “But, barring new government stimulus, the housing market will be relying very heavily on improvements in the economy. A lot will depend on how many people find jobs, or stop worrying about losing the one they have.” A federal tax credit that offered up to $8,000 for certain buyers required home purchase contracts to be signed by April 30 and buyers to close their deals by Sept. 30. Economists expect the effects of that credit to wane in coming months. A separate state credit for first-time buyers and purchasers of new homes -- which allotted $100 million of taxpayer money for each category of buyer -- is also running out.”
However, a second expert from the Real Estate Examiner touted the strength of Hillsborough and other Bay Area homes for sale, claiming that the San Francisco Bay Area is spearheading the economic recovery of the entire Golden State. The July 20, 2010 report goes so far as to claim that the economic figures released by MDA DataQuick amount to a “boom time pace.”