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Question of the Day: Home Prices in Your Area
By JLP | August 13, 2008
Here’s today’s question of the day:
How are home prices holding up in your area?
I live in an area that has pretty much been unaffected by the housing crisis. I have noticed that some homes sit on the market a while before they sell, but I haven’t seen homes go unsold and I haven’t seen a flood of homes on the market. I was talking to a friend of mine a couple of months ago and he said that foreclosures are up in our area but that they weren’t that high compared to other parts of the country.
What about your part of the country?
Topics: Housing Market, Question of the Day | 20 Comments »
August 13th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Stupid NYC housing prices… wish they would follow the rest of the country and go down already!
August 13th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I don’t know if I count really being on the east coast of Canada (the real east coast, not Ontario) and my cities average sale price is up 17% YOY for June, the July numbers haven’t been released yet.
Of course our market was stagnating for a while and now we’re just kind of catching up to the rest of the country, hopefully here we don’t overshoot what the true value of the properties are. Of course, I’m in a house I plan to be in for a while . . . what do I really care until I need to sell it [ . . . If Ever].
August 13th, 2008 at 11:19 am
We have done relatively well here in the Seattle/Puget Sound area. Prices are definitely down, and homes are sitting on the market longer now. My home was recently assessed at a lower value by the county, and an article in the paper said home prices were down about 12%. So things may be changing.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:28 am
All good on my front. In the latest report I saw for our state, there were only two counties in the entire state that saw an increase in home values over the last year (ending June 08) and we live in one of them. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’d be able to put on house on the market right now at a fair value and sell it right away, but I’ve seen quite a few home sales around us with prices that seem in line with what they should be.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:29 am
According to Chase my house has decreased by 42% in value and I am upside down, causing them to freeze draws on my HELOC. That would make me the only house in the Portland Metro area to decrease by that much. But in their letter they stated that their valuation methods were exteremely accurate. I could appeal; with a new appraisel that I pay for and they reserve the right to reject and act within 60 days.
We decided to get a new line from our credit union, requiring a new apprasial; In actuality our house has gone up 13% in the last 2.5 years.
Chase then added insult to injury and charged me $30 to cancel my loan that was no longer servicable.
Bastards
August 13th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I’m in Portland, and we’re holding fairly steady. My home is down 5% from a year ago, but I was always realistic about how much I could actually have sold it for.
It fluctuates a bit here & there, but the area seems to be mostly holding steady over the past several months. However, the house down the street from ours has been on the market for a lonnnng time, and I rarely see anyone stop to take a look at it. I do believe that in many places, including the Portland area, it’s a buyer’s market now.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Thanks to the oil and gas industries…and nuclear waste….our housing market is still a very strong sellers market. We’re moving and will sell our house for at least twice what we paid 4.5 years ago. New construction is booming too – apartments, condos, and single family homes. BUT average days on the market are longer now than 6 months ago, due in part to the media hype and that it’s tougher to get a loan now.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I use a site called Zillow.com, and according to its estimates, our family house peaked around August 2007, and since that time it has dropped about 18%. Still, the house value is still up 63% what we paid for the house in 1999. Living on the San Francisco Peninsula is more expensive than a lot of areas, so I have mixed emotions on the home values dropping. On one hand, we don’t really want to lose money on our house, but on the other hand, if families are able to afford homes now and that inspires them to stay and plant roots, I’m all for it.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
In Atlanta, I see most new houses and townhomes in the metro area go for $300k+. There are older homes in old neighborhoods that go for $150k.
I guess the range is $100k-$900k for a house in Atlanta depending on location, type, and age of the house.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I live in Southern California. Housing here has been severely affected by the decline. As an example (mine), I bought my average house in 1999 for $252K, saw it ramp up drastically to nearly $700K in 2006/2007 (based on Zillow), and saw it crash spectacularly to about $400K currently (again, based on Zillow). Even with getting a HELOC to use for home improvements, I’m still way positive in terms of equity. Those who purchased only three or four years after I did, however, are likely not so well off.
At the height of the madness, homes would often sell the same day they were listed. Now, a Realtor proclaims it loudly if he sells a house in less than 60 days after listing it.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I’m in Denver. We just had our housed appraised in July. The appraisal said housing prices in our neighborhood have gone down 4.5% compared with July 2007. Interestingly, it said 30% of the homes in our area in the past year were foreclosures or short sales. That seems really high to me.
The good news is our house is 26% higher than what we bought it for in 2000, but we’ve probably spent half that in improvements/updates. We like owning our home, but it’s probably not the smartest financial investment.
August 13th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
If you listen to the local conservative talk radio hosts, home prices are rising in Nashville. However, Nashville home prices were down about 5% year over year in July and home sales are down 27% according to the Nashville Business Journal.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
While home prices in east Contra Costa County (CA) are tanking (you’ve no doubt read about Antioch, and a bit further out, Manteca and Stockton, in San Joaquin County), in central Contra Costa (Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda), it seems that the “housing bust” got lost on the way to the office. In neighboring Alameda County, in the City of Alameda, our kids just made what we thought was a fair offer on a nice 2 BR 1 BA and were outbid by an offer at full ask with no contingencies. The house was on the market less than a week.
So, it appear “location, location, location” is still the mantra. If you live in a nice neighborhood with little for sale, and good schools, you should be OK.
In any event, what with Prop 13, who can afford to sell? Our property taxes are a joke, since we bought in 1978.
Yours,
Bozo
August 13th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
We’re north west of Denver. Housing here is doing well! In fact, we’re looking to buy right now and most houses are selling before we can look at them. It has absolutely *slowed* since we bought this house in 1999. I guess slowed is relative though.
TBH, I believe that houses peaked here more like 2002-2003.
I get really sick of hearing doom and gloom when we mention we’re looking to move. You can’t believe everything you hear on the news. Likewise, I get sick of hearing that no one can get loans anymore. Trust me, we’ve talked to many mortgage brokers and ALL have tried to push higher mortgages than we’re comfortable paying. And ARMs. Still.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Nicole, loans still seem available hereabouts as well. Our kids pre-qualified for a $500K+ loan with a local credit union in one day. The rate was quite good as well, 5.5% with a balloon in 7 years, and less than $2000 in closing costs, points, fees, whatever you call them. And 15% down.
Bottom line: loans are available to folks who can pay them back, plus interest. Duh, wasn’t that how it was supposed to work?
Yours,
Bozo
August 13th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
JLP, as you know, still sitting tight in the western suburbs of Chicago, waiting for some showings. 1st month was respectable, but the last 5 weeks have stunk–only 1 showing!
So, we’re now considering renting our home out…cash flow would be a good thing (but paying off mortgages and getting out of a property is even better!!)
We bought our home in ‘92, so even if we dropped our asking price some more we’d still have “made money.” However, we’re likely down 20-30K from a 1-2 year-ago levels. Oh well…
August 13th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
In Puyallup (30 miles south or so of Seattle) my home was assessed for a mere $8,000 lower, down a mere 2.5%
August 13th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I live in Michigan, home of the “one state recession” thanks to our inept governor’s economic and tax policies. The Detroit News ran a story about a foreclosed home in Detroit that recently sold for $1. Yes, that’s $1. And it took 19 days to find a buyer.
That’s not typical but gives you an idea of how bad it is around here. Check out the story at:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080813/METRO/808130360/&imw=Y
It’s a sad commentary on this region but I also found it to be somewhat humorous. How much abuse can one home take?!
Otherwise, in my neighborhood I’d say we’ve seen a 25% drop from the peak values. Thankfully I’m not upside down because I bought quite some time ago and didn’t go crazy with refinancing to extract my paper gains in the form of cash.
August 14th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Things seem to be holding pretty steady in the Omaha area, at least in the conservatively priced neighborhood (Benson) I live in. I believe there are some community development initiatives that may result in even more appreciation for the whole area.
Good stuff.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I’m in a suburb south of B’ham, AL. Prices haven’t been affected as much because as far as I know we didn’t have a huge run up in prices.
Unfortunately we did seem to buy at the top, but we’ve got a 30 year fixed, and can afford all of the payments. Just wish we had room in the market for growth so it’s worth more if we want to move.