Umpqua Bank CEO Ray Davis has made Bay Area growth a priority.

Umpqua Bank 
 

Umpqua Bank
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has hired Bruce Lawrie to lead its new commercial real estate lending office in Walnut Creek, Calif., outside San Francisco.

As the San Francisco Business Times reports, the new office caters to developers and investors with construction lending on income properties, a market segment that fell out of favor, to put it mildly, in the dark days of the downturn.

Portland-based Umpqua has been rapidly expanding its footprint, with Bay Area growth a priority.

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Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/morning_call/2012/05/umpqua-bank-expands-bay-area-real.html

Did I say double dip? Well I’m not the only one.

Today’s home price report from SP Case Shiller proves the point. Remember, this report is based on the sale prices of transactions that closed in January, but it is also a three month running average. That means that at least two thirds of the price deals were struck in October and November, when mortgage rates were at historic lows, providing more purchasing power; they only began spiking in December.

So prices in the top twenty U.S. Markets were down 3.1% in January, year over year, and the slide is accelerating. Eleven of the top twenty hit new price lows on the index. Only San Diego and Washington, DC are showing annual improvements with San Diego just barely out of the red.

“Keeping with the trends set in late 2010, January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future” says Standard and Poors’ David M. Blitzer. “The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery. At most, we have seen all statistics bounce along their troughs; at worst, the feared double-dip recession may be materializing.”

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Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42324054?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS