13 years ago today in Elk Grove

This surveillance camera was placed in an attempt to keep unfinished houses in Elk Grove's Monterrey
Village subdivision of being stripped of copper. May 16, 2008. | 

In the last year, real estate prices nationally and in Elk Grove have escalated. According to Zillow.com, prices in Elk Grove have increased about 12-percent over the last 12 months and are forecasted to grow by about eight percent over the next year.  

But 13 years ago today, the residential real estate market in Elk Grove was in disarray. Months before the credit collapse of 2008 that ushered in The Great Recession, many newer subdivisions, particularly on Elk Grove's west side, where many of the homeowners bought on so-called NINJA loans, the effects were being felt. 

These pictures were taken on Friday, May 16, 2008, along Whitelock Parkway and nearby neighborhoods. The housing market has improved since then, but one of the effects is many of these dwellings were purchased by Wall Street hedge funds and to this day, in many neighborhoods up to 20-percent of single-family houses remain as rental units.  

Overgrown weeds along Whitelock Parkway. 

Foreclosure south of Whitelock Parkway in Elk Grove's East Franklin neighborhood. 

Abandoned sales office and model home - Dunmore Homes Elk Grove May 2008. 

Follow us on Twitter @ElkGroveNews
Copyright by Elk Grove News © 2021. All right reserved.