If you’re a house-or-condo-owing Zillow watcher, you have seen the value of your house tumble over the last year, more quickly in the last six months. Nonetheless, Alameda has been so far relatively insulated from the larger drops in value, foreclosures and short sales that have plagued many Bay Area cities and towns as well as the nation.

A recent report looking at real estate sales based on price per square foot, found prices down 8.5 percent in the last year in 94502 and 4.9 percent in 94501. (By way of extreme contrast, in the last year, Richmond’s 94801 zip code had the steepest price plunge in the Bay Area, a 68.8 percent drop from $311 per square foot to $97.)

Alameda real estate agent Pacita Dimacali has this summary of recent real estate activity. She writes, “Some positive things are happening in our local real estate market.” John Oldham’s new blog, 94501 Real Estate, is tracking local market conditions in national context. Oldham reports 13 foreclosures in Alameda in his November 30 report. And for an almost-always-snarky view of local homes for sale check out Knife Catchers.

With the switch to once-weekly, there wasn’t enough room in last Friday’s print edition of the Alameda Journal for all the letters to the editor. But you can find them online here. The letters include a note from Dianne Richmond, the president of the Alameda Association of Realtors—written in opposition to Measure P. There are submissions both for and against Proposition 8, which would amend the state constitution to make marriage between people of the same gender illegal. And you can also find two letters in support of Ron Mooney’s candidacy for school board. For more on endorsements, Lauren Do has a nice election roundup page here.

Measure P, which Alamedans will vote on in a few short weeks, would increase the city’s property transfer tax, the tax paid to the city when a property is bought or sold. Currently the tax is $5.40 per $1,000 property value. Measure P would raise it to $12 per $1,000. Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson has a pro-P opinion piece in today’s Alameda Journal.

The Mayor’s argument is pretty straight-forward: The city has already been cutting, police and fire costs are two thirds of the city’s budget, and without a cash infusion the city may have to begin trimming those areas nearest and dearest to people’s hearts…in addition to the cuts that have already been made, the maintenance that has already been deferred and the library hours that have already been cut. Those who oppose P have a pretty well-funded campaign against (with chart and graphs and everything).

Back story: Before putting P on the ballot, the city did some polling to see what was most likely to win approval from the voters, and this transfer tax increase is what was seen as most likely to pass. Really, it’s the same old story: if you want services, they must be paid for.

[Ed. note: The Journal also has this editorial about P.]

With the federal government in the midst of hashing out the details of a massive rescue of country’s largest financial institutions, the news on the local front, in terms of falling home values and foreclosures, is bleak, too. In her September 11 blog post, real estate agent Pacita Dimacali, calculated that 14 percent of the 166 homes on the market in Alameda are either short sales (when they’re selling for less than is owed) or ‘bank owned.” Scary. And for always-edgy take on the local housing market, check out Knife Catchers, a blog dedicated to Alameda real estate. Anyone willing to talk about their home ownership problems with me, please send me an email, I’d like to hear your story. Anonymous is fine.