The July market numbers are still moving in a positive direction. A few things to keep an eye on are that July is considered the peak of the "buying season" and that the new FHA down payment assistance programs are to be stopped as of 10-1-08 (please see our blog for more details). The Bakersfield market may not be out of trouble just yet. The number of bank owned properties are continuing to increase and dominate the sold and pending categories.

All numbers are as of today 8-23-2008 and are from the Bakersfield Multiple Listing Service under the category of single family residential (SFR).

4,204 homes active on the market

1,242 of those are bank owned properties

1,354 are "short sales" or pre-foreclosure sales

1,525 are in escrow or pending sale (that is excluding anything that went pending prior to 5-1-2007)

971 of those are bank owned properties

230 are "short sales"

and there were 628 homes sold or closed escrow in July 2008 with

394 of those being bank owned and

42 being short sales

Please don't hesitate to call or email with any questions and we look forward to your comments!