Southern California is well known as being a hot place for American real estate. When prices go up, the area has had some of the highest prices in the country, and when prices fell, the region was home to some of the nation’s hardest-hit communities, which lost significant amounts in value. In La Mesa, a city of about 55,000 in San Diego County, however, the worst appears to be behind the community as prices and values show a generally upward-bending trend.

According to information from the San Diego Association of Realtors, La Mesa real estate showed marked improvement. The median price for a home in the early months of 2010 was $350,000, mostly unchanged from previous months, showing a stabilization in the market. Additionally, foreclosures have been falling in the area. Throughout the entire county, foreclosures were down to just 986 in January, from more than 1,500 in December.

The federal government’s plan enacted in 2009 and later extended through 2010 to offer select homebuyers tax rebates and incentives of up to $8,000 for buying a home has helped move many of the La Mesa homes for sale off the market, though many were sold at prices lower than they were previously purchased for. In December 2009, an index of housing prices showed that San Diego County’s home prices rose 0.1% from the previous month, according to the San Diego Union Tribune, which was the eighth straight month that the county’s real estate market rose, making for the longest streak among 20 metro areas the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index monitors.

The index showed that prices of homes for sale in the county, in which La Mesa is located, rose 2.7%  in December year-over-year. The index stood at 156.29, up 8.2% from a low of 144.43 in April but still 7.6% below the record high of 250.34 from November 2005. The index was set at 100 for January 2000.