Real estate 'misery' and the presidential race

Despite the approach of "Super Tuesday" elections on March 6, it is unlikely that candidates in the Republican presidential primary race will focus much on housing until June, according to real estate search and marketing site Trulia.

That’s because, of the four states hardest hit by the housing crisis, three — Nevada, Florida and Arizona — have already had their primaries. The fourth, California, has its primary June 5.

"If candidates want to talk about what voters want most, they should focus on housing issues where it’s clearly a pain point for voters. This means that … we probably won’t hear much about housing from the presidential candidates again until the summer," said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist, in a blog post. 

In order to figure out which states are suffering the most from the housing downturn, Trulia developed a Housing Misery Index that adds together the percentage change in home prices from their peak through fourth-quarter 2011, from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and the percent of mortgages either severely delinquent (by 90 days or more) or in foreclosure as of fourth-quarter 2011, from CoreLogic.

Trulia Housing Misery Index: Top 10 ‘most miserable’ states

Source: Trulia 

Foreclosure hotspots Nevada, Florida, Arizona and California were rated more "miserable" by far than other states, according to the index. Among the top 10 hardest-hit states, three — Washington, Georgia and Idaho — will have their primaries within the next week.