Bay Area homeowners haven't had much to cheer about in the past few years amid the nationwide housing-market meltdown. Now there's a glimmer of good news: The local housing market last year began showing signs of a tentative, albeit uneven, recovery.

Cities closer to the coast such as Palo Alto, Belvedere and Tiburon saw a return to year-over-year price gains of previously sold homes in 2009, according to MDA DataQuick, a data provider in La Jolla, Calif. But other towns in harder-hit inland areas like Vacaville and Vallejo...