By Misty Williams
The Bakersfield Californian
RISMEDIA, August 15 – (KRT) – Bakersfield, Calif., still on top. Home prices here rose 38.1 percent from the second quarter of 2004 through the same period this year, according to the latest figures from mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae. That's higher than any other metropolitan area in the nation, said Fannie Mae chief economist David Berson. "I used to live in Southern California," Berson said. "The Central Valley was not the hot spot. Now it is." Areas like Los Angeles, San Bernardino-Riverside and the Bay Area showed strong gains but didn't make the top 10, Berson said. Bakersfield is attractive because prices are so low compared to other areas of the state, said James Barth, a senior fellow who studies housing economics at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica. The percent increase may also be larger than other areas because home costs were so low to begin with, Barth said. Another reason why valley prices may be rising so fast? Investors. The number of investors in the valley is nearly double the national average, which has helped push prices up, Berson said. Both Stockton and Modesto also showed home price gains of more than 30 percent. Recent data on home sales, prices and home builder attitudes show no sign of slowing down, Berson said. But the end of the year or beginning of next could bring a slowdown in the national market, he said. "We're probably real close to the peak in sales right now," he said. Copyright © 2005, The Bakersfield Californian Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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