1:30pm | The National Association of Realtors released its Third Quarter Report detailing Metro Home Price/State Resales today, and speculation is running high over what the report will say about the nation, Southern California and Long Beach. Based on the latest reports, any positive signs from the report are sure to be welcome.

The Mark Company, a Los Angeles area real estate firm, states that Generation Y and Baby Boomers may have given the market a slight boost.

A recent housing report issued by Zillow Real Estate Market Reports shows that home values have fallen 25% since the 2006 peak, a drop that harkens to the Great Depression era, which saw a 25.9-percent drop in home values over five years.

“While not unexpected, the unceasing declines in home values signal that we’re in for a long, bleak winter of continued troubles for the housing market,” said Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist.

More than 23-percent of single-family homeowners with mortgages were underwater, according to the Zillow report.

“The two most predominant buyers during the third quarter 2010 were Gen Y and Baby Boomers,” the company states. “Over the past couple of years, Gen Y has grown to become more of a major player. It is almost a barbell effect with two sizable demand pools for different products. A growing number of parents are buying for their college-age children and/or recent grads. Parents have cited wanting to move money out of stocks and other investment areas and into real estate because it feels, at this point, like a safer place to invest.”

The Mark Company also states that buyers are looking for the best deals and “have removed emotional connections from the purchase process.” They are visiting buildings on average four or more times before purchasing, and they “are truly shopping the market, with a significant jump in prospective buyers looking at competing buildings.”

Most are buying homes as their primary residence, with location as the predominant factor, except for projects like West End, in Marina del Ray, and Blu, in Long Beach, where floor plans took precedence, the company states.