The third-largest city in San Diego County, Oceanside, California, is home to a large population and a robust real estate market. The city has about 180,000 residents. Like much of Southern California, the Oceanside real estate market was plundered by the economic downturn throughout the U.S., causing home prices to fall and foreclosures to rise, among other negative signs.

Over the past year, the Oceanside market has seen sales volume rise, peaking around the beginning of 2009 but remaining strong throughout the end of the year. Home prices steadily fell through most of the year, but the trough appears to have been reached in late summer/early fall, and prices have since began to slowly creep back up.

According to statistics from local realtor Neal Hribar of Keller Williams Realty, in February, the median price for a home in Oceanside was around $325,000, down from one year ago, when it was around $340,000, but up slightly from January and December’s figures, showing signs of a positively sloping upward trend. There were around 135 Oceanside homes for sale sold in February, a steady figure over the past several months and in line with sales figures a year ago.

The condo market shows similar trends, though pricing in the market seems to be slower in coming out of the trough that was reached and maintained throughout most of the summer and fall of 2009. There were about 70 condos sold in Oceanside in February, up slightly from one year ago and stable with the past several months’ activity. The median price for a condo was about $160,000, a steep drop from more than $230,000 in September of 2008 but up slightly from the lows around $150,000 seen over the summer.