The Mission, San Francisco
Listings: -29 percent
Sales volume: +17 percent
Price: +80 percent
Comment: The Mission boasts San Francisco's most popular and longest-running arthouse movie theatre, The Roxie.
Source: Redfin
Glassell Park, Los Angeles
Listings: -64 percent
Sales volume: +31 percent
Price: +17 percent
Comment: Glassell Park is home to local artists like Justin Stadel, whose amusing, giant cutouts of famous Hollywood cowboys have been featured on numerous occasions in the LATimes.
Source: Redfin
Willow Glen, San Jose
Listings: -60 percent
Sales volume: +9 percent
Price: +32 percent
Comment: The Mercury News recently praised Willow Glen's new, $20-million town center, which replaced a liquor store and parking lot, as "thoughtful development."
Source: Redfin
Livermore, Bay Area
Listings: -71 percent
Sales volume: +13 percent
Price: +20 percent
Comment: Livermore hosts one of the largest Hindu populations in the Bay Area.
Source: Redfin
Faircrest Heights, Los Angeles
Listings: -63 percent
Sales volume: +17 percent
Price: +29 percent
Comment: Bikram Yoga's world headquarters is located in Faircrest Heights.
Source: Redfin
Mira Mesa, San Diego
Listings: -69 percent
Sales volume: +48 percent
Price: +21 percent
Comment: The neighborhood inaugurated a beer festival in August.
Source: Redfin
Highland Park, Los Angeles
Listings: -48 percent
Sales volume: +73 percent
Price: +31 percent
Comment: The LATimes recently named York Boulevard "a hub of hip." The New York Times also seems to have been on top of the "Highland-Park-is-the-next-Williamsburg" angle as early as 2009.
Source: Redfin