California Real Estate Industry News reports that analysts are predicting that mortgage rates will stay low through 2012. Until employment levels rise, experts believe that mortgage rates must remain attractive in order to balance out unemployment levels with home prices.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, four out of every five mortgage applications at the end of 2011 were for refinancing of existing homes. California Real Estate News says in its March/April 2012 issue that chief economists anticipate this year as a turning point from the housing market having hit bottom. If these predictions are true, home prices may go up for the first time since 2006.

“Here in Petaluma we’ve seen this as evident in the entry level housing market,” says West Petaluma Living’s resident real estate pro Timo Rivetti. “Four or five offers on a starter or investment home are common in the area, this Spring.”

Rivetti concurs with California Real Estate News report of the past 10 years being a ‘lost decade’. “Adjusting for inflation, home values are about the same today as they were in 2002,”he says. “With low inventory, pent up demand, low interest rates and indications of a stabilized market, we are back into a balanced market here in Petaluma.”