Where is the long predicted bursting of the Real Estate Bubble?
By: Tony Meier – Eastside Realtor
We have all heard it! On the nightly news, in the Sunday papers and on many real estate blogs. The long predicted colapse of the real estate bubble! Unfortunately, for all the doomsayers, real estate still seems to be alloft. Acccording to a report released last week by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (who oversees Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac), the national housing market appreciated 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2007. While these numbers are far from amazing, they also do not show the "doom and gloom" that many seem to be hoping for. Here are some hightlights from the report –
——————————————————————————-
WASHINGTON, DC – The rate of home price appreciation in the U.S. remained slow but positive in the first quarter of 2007. The OFHEO House Price Index (HPI), which is based on data from sales and refinance transactions, was 0.5 percent higher in the first quarter than in the fourth quarter of 2006. This is moderately below the revised growth estimate of 1.3 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of 2006.
“Although some forecasters expected to see a drop in the HPI, nationwide house prices continued to rise in the first quarter of 2007, albeit at the lowest rate in 10 years,” said Lockhart. “As always, real estate prices are local with seven states showing double-digit annual appreciation rates and seven with rates less than 2 percent. Seven states, including Florida and California, also showed home price depreciation in the first quarter.”
Highest and Lowest Appreciation:
1. The states with the greatest rates of appreciation between the first quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 were: Utah (17.0%), Idaho (12.3%), Montana (11.7%), Wyoming (11.7%), and Washington (11.6%). The states with the lowest rates of appreciation for the same period were: Michigan (-0.7%), Massachusetts (-0.6%), Nevada (0.6%), Ohio (0.8%), and New Hampshire (1.1%).
Other notable results
Of the 20 cities with the greatest four-quarter appreciation, five are in Washington State. Only five of Washington’s 12 largest metropolitan areas saw four-quarter appreciation of less than 10 percent.
——————————————————————————–
You’ll notice in the report that Washington State was listed in the top 5 with the greatest rates of appreciation in the country. If you would like to know more about the health of our Washington real estate market in your area, I welcome you to contact me
Tony Meier
Redmond Realtor
EastsideHomesBlog.com
EastsideHomes.com
Seattle’s Eastside Real Estate Resource
tony@eastsidehomes.com
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.