Houses in MM are flying off the shelf because they are the only game in town north of the 52, south of the 78, and still within a reasonable distance of the ocean (IE no ESCO or Romona). If you want to live in this area, and are looking to buy, your choices are some superfixer upper in Poway or Rb, or a MM sfr. When the “fortress” areas finally start taking their Alt-A/ Option Arm licking’s, new games will open up in town and MM will move lower. This will take time, something like late 2010.

Also, as for rents. I have been tracking rents in MM since early 06. I have noticed a steep rise in asking prices as of late (2008). I dont have any clue why, but I am guessing it falls along the same lines as being the only game in town. Where else can you rent a 3/2-4/2 for under 2000/month in north county? This wasn’t hard to find last year, but has mostly disappeared now. I guess alot of people are trying to save cash, and influencing demand.

I see no more than a 20-25% drop in the future. I use to think more, but this rental surge has caught me off guard (I thought rents would take a hit with the faultering economy too, but this has been discussed plenty before in other threads). I still believe MM 3/2’s will go sub 300k, just not as much as I use to.