Santa Cruz County is growing

The Santa Cruz area has had an increase in it’s population this past year of 1.16%. While this is not a huge amount, it is some what surprising as we have had increasing prices. Right now the values are a bit softer and we may see a net decrease as we had in California in the early 90’s. To check prices locally, you can go to www.cacoastalhome.com . Back then the national economy was the problem. The national recession had hit and California was delayed in being affected. So after the boom of the late 80’s we fell on hard times here in the 90’s That was in part due to several things which lead to a mass migration from California.

The national recession was the start of the base closures, which affected us immensely. The military, which was dramatically reduced, had a major affect on southern California. Theirs was a huge military industrial complex based economy that got virtually gutted. This followed what affected us here in Santa Cruz, the earthquake of 1989, and later in Northridge, in 1994, which was a large quake too. Locally there was a large base closure, which many thought was impossible, with Sam Far and Leon Panetta as our powerful local and national officials in power. This closure forced many military and the supporting industries to close or leave. It affected the whole region and is just now being a magnet of growth and attracting families and jobs. The Fort Ord Reuse Authority

(FORA) is a vision that is in full swing to bring back jobs and industry to the area.

These events forced people out of work and we were forced to dramatically change. Many people were unemployed and the real estate market was very difficult. The loan rates were in the high teens and as they went up there were a slew of foreclosures. While I do not think California will see the level of economic devastation as before, I think there will be a slowing of growth. The housing prices, while high, and generally softer, will not likely bring about an exodus. The balanced jobs that our county has will likely keep us in decent shape. If you want to see whether you would want to move here, you can easily see home values in a variety of areas.

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