Price index falls hardest in Phoenix, S.F.
All 25 metros tracked see decline in price per square foot
By Inman News, Monday, March 9, 2009.The price per square foot of homes fell in all of the 25 U.S. metro areas tracked in December compared to the same month last year, with the most extreme declines in the Phoenix and San Francisco metro areas.
The metro areas included in the RPX Monthly Housing Market Report index, prepared by real estate data and analytics company Radar Logic Inc., dropped a collective 22 percent in December 2008 compared to December 2007.
Phoenix had the highest year-over-year price decline in December (-35.9 percent), following by San Francisco (-35.1 percent), Las Vegas (-31.9 percent), San Jose (-30.2 percent) and Sacramento (-27.4 percent).
Philadelphia had the slightest year-over-year slide (-2.2 percent) among the metro areas listed, followed by Columbus, Ohio (-3.8 percent), St. Louis, Mo. (-5.8 percent), Milwaukee (-5.9 percent), and Cleveland (-8.1 percent).
Milwaukee saw the greatest monthly slide from November 2008 to December 2008 (-7.8 percent), followed by Chicago (-5.4 percent), Minneapolis and San Francisco (-4.7 percent), and Seattle (-4.5 percent).
The only cities with a month-to-month increase in the price-per-square-foot index in December: St Louis (2.1 percent) and Denver (1.2 percent). Columbus broke even while San Diego (-0.4 percent) and Tampa (-0.7 percent) had the slightest drops.
Radar Logic reported that improvements in home affordability and low mortgage rates contributed to year-over-year transaction-count increases in 14 of the 25 metro areas tracked in December 2008 compared to the same month in the previous year.
That compares to an overall 40 percent decline in transaction count in December 2007 compared to the prior year. The company's transaction counts, which are used to calculate the price-per-square-foot index, do not necessarily reflect total transaction volume in each market area.
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Submitted by Larry Whited Sr. on March 9, 2009 - 5:14am.
I think we are seeing the bottom of the real estate market being defined. After 3 years of decline a bottom that we can adjust to would be welcomed by most.
A few weeks at a defined bottom allows everyone to adjust to the new reality and begin to rebuild their businesses.
Larry A. Whited, Sr., CRB, CRS, GRI
President & Founder
www.maxUnet.com & www.WebMLS.net
P.O. Box 757
West Chester Ohio 45071
Direct - (513) 543-2727 Fax - (513) 297-7497
Submitted by Joseph Bridges on March 9, 2009 - 5:26am.
this news is actually good news. With certain areas nearly even I agree with Larry that it would indicate a bottom.
This is the kind of news that we need to make sure that our clients see, read, and understand the importance of.
Visit the blog at: http://www.InternetRealEstateSuccess.com
Real Estate Resources at: http://www.OnlineRealEstateSuccess.com
Submitted by Richard Stabile Bergen County Real Estate on March 9, 2009 - 6:29am.
Extremely lower prices are finally bringing in a bid in the markets which ran up big and have come down big. The markets such as ours in Bergen County New Jersey are not getting a lot of traction. They didn't go up as much nor come down as much. There is just lack of commitment by purchasers. We are high priced area, many homes are jumbo mortgages. Up until 2 weeks ago, it was hard to get a mortgage over $1,000,000 for anything under 8%. Now that is starting to open up and the spreads between treasuries and mortgage rates are narrowing. This is the key to a recovery.
http://newhomesbyrichard.com
Submitted by Nico V on March 10, 2009 - 2:48am.
There is some hope on the horizon, as the manufacturing index has increased. The manufacturing index is one of the key economic indicators of recession or growth, and a decline for two or months or more is one of the first signs that trouble is brewing. The next biggest indicator is consumer spending, which actually rose in the month of January. These are two of the biggest indicators of whether a recession is on, or if we’re on the way out of one, so let us hope that consumer spending and the manufacturing index continue to rise at a good pace.
Submitted by Paul Sime on August 7, 2009 - 1:49am.
I've been paying off a mortgage working with a Phoenix landscaping company, i dont think it's that bad here as it is in some other areas of the country.