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The National Association of Realtors is just out with its third-quarter median prices by metro area, and the news is not good.
Nationwide, the median price for an existing home is down 4.7 percent from a year ago and nearly 14 percent since 2008.
But in many markets, the decline is far worse. Realtors said prices fell in 111 of 150 metro areas tracked by the group, according to the Associated Press. Phoenix, Miami and Salt Lake City are among the markets where prices are declining at a double-digit rate.
Here are the 10 markets where prices are declining the fastest:
- Mobile, Ala., median price $98,800, down 17.7 percent from a year ago.
- Phoenix, Ariz., $113,700, -17.6 percent
- Allentown, Pa., $193,800, -17.5 percent
- Salt Lake City, $182,600, -15.3 percent
- Gulfport, Miss., $103,100, -12.7 percent
- Miami, $187,600, -12.7 percent
- Rockford, Ill., $96,900, -12.5 percent
- Virginia Beach, Va., $190,000, -12.5 percent
- Tucson, Ariz., $131,100, -11.5 percent
- Akron, Ohio, $93,600, -11.4 percent
And here are five markets where prices are rising:
- Grand Rapids, Mich., $111,200, up 23.7 percent
- South Bend, Ind., $94,800, 19.8 percent
- Palm Bay, Fla., $109,600, 17.7 percent
- Youngstown, Ohio, $68,300, 13.1 percent
- Green Bay, Wis., $135,700, 12.6 percent.
Click here for links to the full report with data on all 150 metro areas.
Related: Nearly 29 percent of mortgaged homes underwater
After steadying, home prices begin falling again
How a financial pro lost his home
CNBC's Diana Olick looks to see where there are some signs of strength in the housing markets.
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Home prices are still a bubble compared to historic norm. According to case shiller index, we are still 20% above long term averages. Typical bottom comes at 20% below average. But this is not your typical recession. This is a deflationary crash. This is Great Depression material. These averages themselves are based on a money supply that was inflated by borrowing for many decades. When the money supply deflates, existing prices and salaries cannot be sustained:
www.kondratieffwavecycle.com/housing-bubble-bust/
Bernanke can print money but that does not mean credit dependent sectors such as housing will go up in nominal terms. Quite the contrary, while food, gas, gold sky rockets, home prices can collapse. That is because if creditors think Bernanke will print lots of money, they will not lend money for the long term at low rates.
Beware! It has happened to past generations. Do not think we are immune. Japan had fiat currency too. They had deflation for 2 decades. Today the debt problem is much much bigger than the days of Great Depression.
Even though Bernanke has tripled the base money supply, people did not see an increase in their pay check. As long as salaries stagnate, or fall, housing will be in bad shape.
Whatever you do, do not get into debt. If you want to buy, buy cash down. Even if prices do not fall, in many cases, rent is cheaper if you consider mortgage interest, property taxes, condo fees, maintenance, lost interest/investment income...
Beware folks. We were told this to when our house prices were starting to go up so people waited thinking that they might get a better deal when the prices dropped even more according to the professionals. They want you to wait until the prices climb even more so they tell you that the market has not picked up yet. good trick huh to make more money huh? I am now in Arizona and I can see that house prices are definitely going up since the "crash." It is not that much but once they start they usually just keep going up and up and up. People can DEFINITELY buy a house a lot less than you could say, 5 years ago, so now is definitely the time to buy and I myself would not wait. Got burned once by those people who wanted us to believe that the market was NOT picking up and will never believe what I read in the paper or hear on the news again. Personal experience and a long memory help.
Nothing has been fixed. It will crash again. Just a matter of time. Enjoy the uptime while it lasts.
Ole Grey
you are right and it would be a good investment noe .
In Orlando there has been an increase of buyers from England who are amazed at the good deals they have found and who have not been brainwashed by US media
The sleazy slimy real estate agents always say it is time to buy. There's never been a time when these scums of the earth say don't buy. Like the NAR propaganda, these crooks had said real estate prices never go down; renting is a waste of money; there's only so much real estate so buy now; real estate is the American Dream; real estate is an investment; you, too, can become a millionaire through real estate.
All that and more, even at the height of the housing bubble.
Whether the bubble involves Tulips, Railroad, SouthSea, Dot-com, or the most recent housing mania, the bursting of the bubble prices follows the same downward trajectory as all the rest. After nearly two hundred years, the price of Tulip, Railroad and SouthSea shares, after adjusting for inflation, have never recovered to the level reached during the height of their bubble. Housing prices are no exception.
Fatcat....I don't know who made you soooo angry at Realtors, but we are Not all bad. In the 25 years I have been in realestate, I have seen the highs and the lows. When interest rates were in the double digits, home ownership was Still what the American people wanted. Is there BAD agents? YES Are All bad agents? NO I think a lot of the bad apples have gotten out. The cost of being an agent (just dues, listing boards, continuing education, Errors insurance, electric lock box's....NOT counting signs, ads, gas, car insurance, office expenses and client gifts. to name a few) Is well over $ 5k to 8k. a year. That is of course if you are doing your due diligence. I left the Corporate world to go into Real estate...not to make money, but to help people find the American Dream. My income took at least a 50% cut. And that does not even include the commissions I discounted regularly. I have lost a lot in my personal home as well.
But, after seeing the De-regulations of the Big banks in the late 90's...but EVEN more in the early 2000's I was not surprised. I tried to counsel my buyers about getting in with some of the loans out there, some listened and the few who did not, I am now helping "them" with "Short Sales" Oh and bye the way....I don't make much $ for short sells. I do it to help my sellers thru a bad time. Home ownership is still a Goal of most people. They just need to find someone that is looking out for Them & not their own pocketbook.
Blame the morgage brokers , and the TBTF boys of wall street. Snake oil salesmen each and every one !!!! Their BS and slick sales pitches started this mess . Not only did they start it they bet on most of their loans would fail. They made big money on both ends. Got paid on the loan-- The loan failed -- they got paid from the insurence industry -- also collected when they sold bundled bad loans as credit default swaps .
WHERE IN HELL WAS THE SEC WHEN THIS WAS GOING ON ???????? Better yet how much were they paid to close their eyes or turn their backs to what was going on ????
bob
The blame is not the brokers or the wall street traders but the democratic house and senate during the last two years of Bush. They assigned barnie franks and chris dodd as the CEO of fannie and freddie with a mandate of "putting everyone in a house" They used clintons community reinvestment act as a stick to blackmail the banks into making loans they new the mortage holders could not afford. But Franks and Dodd told them to do it or risk loosing there charters. Franks and Dodd also told the banks to make the loans and the government would insure them! Bush tried to stop the democratic controlled house and senate and they called him a raciest for not wanting to let poor people own a home.
Anybody who has ever delt with a bank knows that they do not make loans unless they are sure they are going to be paid! It was the Socalist Democratic party that thought (once again) that socalism is better than the free market. Everytime Without exception it has backfired and hurt those who they think they are helping plus hurt in this case the world. Thanks to the socalistic Democratic party!!!
There is a Lot a blame to go around. Franks & Dodd did Not black mail the "Banks". The banks got GREEDY was the biggest problem...that And Bush was pushing de-regulation. He said We need to get the "Regulations OFF the big business....so they can do their JOBS. Hey...they DID do a Job...only it was on the homeowners and we are paying the price I heard many bank officers say to My buyers, "This loan is lower for the next few years, and then you can sell for a BIG profit and buy a Bigger home...and so on and so on. You can't Tell me anything about the housing market over the last 12 years....unless You lived it. I Have. And am. Just so you know I used to be a GOP card carrying member...Not now OR Ever Again. We are in for a long ride...and with the Rep/TP field of choices we could be over the cliff.
the American Dream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGk5ioEXlIM
Good link...love the toon.I worked hard followed the rules and did not borrow more than i could afford to build my home , still i will probably get screwed.
OWS? WRONG !
ODC or Occupy DC? Now you're thinkin' !
bob1/28 had it right when he asked, "WHERE IN HELL WAS THE SEC WHEN THIS WAS GOING ON ?"
Or ANY of the other "federal/congressional agencies or oversight committees???????"
Jefferson's WARNINGS from over 200 years ago ring so true today:
Jefferson aggressively opposed both a "strong central banking system" and a "strong central government".
Look at what we have? A disastrous cesspool of waste, fraud, corruption, abuse, inefficiency beyond belief and incompetence that defies definition.
The FACT of the matter is: WASHINGTON DC aka "our Congress, our Presidential Cabinet members and ALL of our endless list of COMPLETELY USELESS Federal 'watchdog' Agencies and Oversight Committees" BEAR 100% of the Responsibility for ALL of our woes.
Nothing should be "more repulsive to the American people" than when Obama or 'anyone else' places blame on "Wall Street" or any bank or financial institution that WASHINGTON DC gave "carte blanche power" to for decades and decades.
"Wall Street" could have NEVER even attempted to do the things it has already gotten away with if it were not for "the boys in DC".
Only an ignorant, uneducated or mentally ill fool could possibly even consider anything else. No matter how we attempt to place blame, the ARROW will always, always, always end up pointing directly at WASHINGTON DC.
If and when, or the sooner the OWS stooges get their act together (like that's going to happen?)... and descend on WASHINGTON DC, only then will the FOCUS and the BLAME be placed right where it belongs.
Sure, politics has always been a dirty game, filled with corruption. Somehow, over the years, the masses in our society seemed to get a better deal.
Today, the masses and now even our descendants getting raped, pillaged and plundered... pushed so far down that we may never be able to get back up.
Those SOB's in DC know exactly what they've done and continue to do it to us. It is a shame... but that is the way it is.
Individuals must continue to find ways to prosper and remain as independent as possible, in spite of DC.
Where there is WILL there is always a WAY.
As much as many "don't want to admit it or discuss the possibility", America is on a one way path to civil unrest, chaos, anarchy and of course... revolution.
It may be just a matter of time... and it sure seems the time gets closer every day.
" The SUMMER of 2012 ! "
Be prepared for the crap to hit the fan... very, very similar to 1968!
peace :-)
Speedy, in Palm Harbor,
I actually agree with a few things you said, but I must be mentally ill because I disagree that 100% of the fault lies with our governement. I'll give them 50%. We, the average American, took the bait - hook,line and sinker. So we're 25% at fault. The avaricially greedy people in the financial industry I'll give the other 25% of the blame to. We bought in and were warned as far back as 2003 that this was coming, but we just kept electing the candidate with the most money.
Which brings me to the other point I disagree with in your rant. I disagree that D.C. is running the show on Wall Street. I believe it is the other way around. I believe Wall Street (and all other places with major financial doings) is running D.C.
The rest of it I can agree with. Don't invest in the stock market unless you are rich enough to manipulate it as has been done by the very wealthy since it's inception. Do not give them your meager (at least to them) holdings.
Problem when or if it does nothing comes out of it! We need an independent party in Congress. It has to control congress. Stop the wars! Save trillions!. What the hell has 2 trillion in Iraq gotten us. 4400 dead kids
What got us into this mess is that Americans changed the purpose of owning a home. When our parents and grandparents bought or built homes, that is what it was intended for; living with your family and staying within the family for generations. And they bought a house they could afford. However, in the 80's, houses began selling as an investment, something that would act as a savings account without anyone putting in additional money besides the mortgage payment. As you got bored with your house or your need to keep up with the Jones' intensified, people but larger and more house (and higher mortgages) because of the inflated values and easy money.
We are just reaping the benefits of a greedy society.
Oh - BTW - don't bet on a healthy recovery for this re-pression. We sent most of our manufacturing overseas and without a manufacturing base and I am referring to intemrdiate items not including housing , automobile, or McDonald's) we will have difficulty climbing out of the recession. America is a service economy which requires people spend money for tasks they do not want to do or cannot do themselves. Problem is, myself - like many others are becoming the DIY group again. Which means I am not hiring the plumber or the carpenter to fix my house or a mechanic to change my oil.
Cancer does not appear overnight, just as this financial nightmare did not happen overnight. This financial mess that America is in has been brewing for years, even decades, but too many people were making money, whether on Wall Street, Government, ballooning equity in homes, people were using their homes as bank accounts and the bank being heavily invested in mortgage scams were more than happy about this. The problem is that no one thought that the financial recklessness of the past 10 years would come back and bite them in the ass. It's too easy to keep putting the blame on Wall street and the government, we are all to blame. We were more than happy to know that the false equity value in our homes, going up more than 50% within a short period a time and making us feel rich. This should be a lesson to all to live within our means and when something seems to good to be true most often it is too good to be true. We need to go back to basics, if possible start saving one dime at a time, shop around for the best prices, vote with your convictions, not with all the media propaganda and ever so often look back in the past usually their are lessons to be learned, which might prevent us from making the same mistakes over and over again.
Marj And Buy Made in USA.
my house is worth exactly the same as it was when i moved in,actually i moved in before i finished so it is a bit more.but still it is my refuge and where i helped my wife raise five good children.it`s not an investment to me,but home.
when i retired from Uncle sugar i built my wife her dream home that was in ninety nine. One of my co workers ask me on lunch break if i regretted that decision saying i should have stayed in the CG and bought a home latter after prices fell.
My answer to him was one i did not know the prices were going to fall and two i would not change a thing because even though back then you could build cheaper than buy because of inflated home prices it was my wifes dream and our design we earned it after twenty years of moving around and putting up with bs.
I do not care if my house is not worth a nickle because it is not for sell anyways but i do wish they could lower my taxes to reflect the difference .
As for staying in...well it was real and it was fun but i can not lie it was not real fun.
My those who bought in the 50's have made money. 50k bought a house! Now it's worth 700k
not hardly ..more like 12k bought a house now worth 50k but the problem is 12k bought more than 50 k does now .
You may have more paper but it is worth less.
In Tarrytown NY 50k grew to 1mil
can't wait to see how Tiger does in the Australian OPEN..Masters!
Isn't ashame that so many of those we look up to fail us! Penn State and on and on.
Not important anymore. From now on we need to look at when the market collapses.
lets give a shout out to all the people who made or helped this disaster ........barney frank, chris dodd, gw bush, barry, geitner, and all those on the senate banking committee [both parties] who made this all possible!
Home is where the heart is. It's not an investment tool as much as it's a "place" to raise a family or just co-exist with your soul mate... or at the least, hunker down as a hermit.
Size does NOT matter when it comes to a secure, warm, affordable place to rest your head. Live within your means and stop trying to impress your friends...you'll live longer.
The lower third to half of Americans get poorer and poorer and you expect home prices to rise? How do you think this scheme works? People on the lower end buy entry level properties and all property prices moves up. The only thing that has kept things from getting worse is foreign buyers who are beginning to see the American collapse for what it is.
This is why homes should not be gamble on, buying, then throwing a few dollars to fix a home just a bit, then selling it for an inflated price. One can gamble on hotels, motels or business real estate but homes should only be for families, with a minimum time to occupy the home, except in special situations. This will stabilize home prices at their true price and make them affordable for all families.
Plain and simple: for years the "value" of homes increased at 10-20+% a year predicated on a demand created by lending institutions making loans to people who could not afford to pay back the amount they were borrowing. Greedy lenders, greedy Real people at all levels: Realtors, Developers, Builders and on and on, capitalizing on easy lending. The solution to the problem is plain and simple-R.E. prices will have to decline until housing becomes affordable again. Sadly, the mess that we are currently in is directly related to the fraud committed by lenders-"trickle down" can be applied to many thing.
so a home is only its market value huh?
as long as we all treat our homes like a stock , then we deserve what we have now.
people in real life however are still getting married, having children and wanting a place that they can make into a home