Finding good news during this disasterous real estate market has been a challenge but recent statistics are showing a positive upswing in Bay Area housing sales.
Three of the hottest zip codes in the country are in the Bay Area -- and not because of the temperature.
Those are the neighborhoods where foreclosures are creating bargain-priced homes that are now a bidding battleground between buyers.
Oakland's 94606 is the fourth hottest zip code in the country for buyers, according to Zip Realty.
"We're defining the hot zip codes as places where people are having to bid overasking in order to get properties." Leslie Tyler, Vice President of marketing for Zip Realty said. "In most of these zip codes, what's happening is that prices have come down so much and there's a lot of buyer activity."
Just down the way a bit is the nation's sixth hottest zip code: 94601. Nearly 200 homes were sold in that neighborhood between April and June. The majority of them were foreclosed on and bank or lender-owned.
In many of the sales, homes were selling well over the asking price.
Online brokerage firm Zip Realty pulled real estate data from 31 metropolitan areas around the country. California has eight of the top 10 hottest zip codes.
Nearby Richmond, 94805, also made the hottest list at No. 9.
The hottest zip code in the country, according to the study, is Youngstown Arizona. Don't try to buy in Atlanta though, Zip Realty says that city has three of the coldest zips in the country.
