Real estate market analysts have been hard at work crunching the latest round of numbers but what does it all mean? Wednesday the news looked optimistic for San Joaquin when it was reported that the area experienced a second quarter decline in foreclosures despite the fact that Stockton still remained 96^th in the nation for foreclosures. However on the heels of that report it was announced that US home seizures had reached a new record and are now 25% higher than a year ago and that California accounted for 1/5^th of the national total. UCLA economists predicted that California is on the road to recovery, but it will be slow stating that unemployment is not likely to fall below 10% until late 2012. This is something to look forward to for San Joaquin county which currently ranks 99^th in the nation for employment and housing prices.

According to a recent article in the Tracy Press, The University of the Pacific’s Business Forecasting Center believes Northern California is already on the economic rebound, but San Joaquin County is not considered so lucky. North San Joaquin was the first area to suffer from this economy slump and it still has a long way to go. The unemployment rate in San Joaquin is expected to remain in the double digits well into 2012 while the rest of the state is expected to be into single digits by that time. They cite local reliance on agriculture, residential construction and government funded jobs to blame. The forecast center predicts once San Joaquin begins to recover, the city of Tracy is expected to lead the trend in business and real estate.