Housing was, and still is, in most of this country grotesquely overpriced, driven up by way way to loose lending... now that the contraction is happening, those artificial prices are evaporating.
Let me know when the headline is:
“Property taxes drop for fourth straight quarter”
or
“Homeowners insurance rates drop for fourth straight quarter”
......
bttt
“Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” ~ Mark Twain
“Although home prices are relatively flat, more metro areas are showing price gains with general improvement since bottoming-out in the fourth quarter of 2006,” he said. “Recent mortgage disruptions will hold back sales temporarily, but the fundamental momentum clearly suggests stabilizing price trends in many local markets.”
The meat of the article. Undeserving of the headline, I guess.
It’s not easy to write apocalyptic articles about this sector every day when the main trend is to remain about where we were last week and the week before. Where are the investments with 20-50% annual increases?
Thanks for sharing this good news with us:
“Although home prices are relatively flat, more metro areas are showing price gains with general improvement since bottoming-out in the fourth quarter of 2006,”
So here:
http://realtytimes.com/rtmcrcond/Texas~Houston~megjimzoller
is some good news for you:
“...Houston housing has avoided the big declines which other cities have experienced. Although the number of single family homes [sales] declined in June for the second consecutive month, prices increased. If you break it down, most of the decrease in number of homes sold was in the $80,000 and $140,000 price range and probably due to the sub prime lending restrictions. The median price which is a price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less was $160,000, a 2.6% increase over June 2006 and an all-time Houston record. The average sales price was $220,217. This is a 3.7 % increase over last year’s value, and a Houston record high.
In closing, the Houston housing market is strong in pricing...foreclosures and the sub prime lending problems appear to have affected Houston less than the rest of the country...Houston has avoided the national “bubble” effect and remains one of the more affordable national markets.”
Housing was, and still is, in most of this country grotesquely overpriced, driven up by way way to loose lending... now that the contraction is happening, those artificial prices are evaporating.
Excerpt:
* * * Linda Setterlund, 61, owns a pristine three-bedroom, two-bath, Cape Coral house that has been on the market for about a year.At a reduced asking price of $183,900, she said the house had been priced to match what she and her husband owed on it, after moving in three years ago with a 30-year fixed mortgage.
Setterlund said she and her husband had decided to leave the area to join family in Tennessee, but their decision was also prompted by growing real estate taxes and skyrocketing homeowner insurance rates after an active 2005 hurricane season.
"They're saying that we're heading for a recession but I think we're past that," said Setterlund, referring to the housing glut and its effect across much of south Florida. "I think we're headed more into a depression."
Still going Up! Up! Up! here in King County, WA