An economist has noted that the California property market is seeing a rise in the number of people buying.

Michelle Girard, an analyst at RBS Greenwich Capital, said that the state is among those that have bucked the recent trend for the number of house sales to drop in the US, Reuters reports.

She remarked: "Despite the overall softening in sales, there has been a solid trend of rising activity in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, in areas where bargain hunters are taking advantage of substantially discounted prices."

The news provider said economists across the US expect a rise in transactions as homes become more affordable, something that could see California property seekers being able to acquire more bargains.

Speaking at a recent business conference, entrepreneur Sam Zell said the recovery of the housing market across the US is coming, with "equilibrium" being approached in Spring 2009 and the situation looking "a whole lot better" a year on.

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