NEW YORK (AP) -- Home prices are falling in most major U.S. cities, and the average prices in four of them are at their lowest point in 11 years.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index released Tuesday shows price declines in 19 cities from December to January. Eleven of them are at their lowest level since the housing bust, in 2006 and 2007. The index fell for the sixth straight month.
Home values in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Detroit and Cleveland are now below January 2000 levels.
The only market where prices rose was Washington, where homes prices gained 0.1 percent month over month.
"The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's.
The pain is not uniform, however. It is worse in cities where foreclosures and short sales are dominating the market and pushing home prices down. That includes Detroit and Cleveland, which are struggling with weak local economies. Miami, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Atlanta are reeling from overbuilding during the housing boom.
California cities are faring better. San Diego was the only city besides Washington where home prices have risen year over year.
Home prices in the nation's capital are up 3.6 percent year over year and have risen nearly 11 percent since they bottomed out in March 2009. And among the 20 cities, prices there have held up the best since 2000, appreciating almost 84 percent.
The Case-Shiller report measures home price increases and decreases relative to prices in January 2000 and gives an updated three-month average for the metropolitan areas it looks at.
It's all part of the correction from the bubble.
A couple of years ago, the folks I know with a real sense of all things REAL ESTATE were saying it would be into 2013 before we climb out of this hole...
Back in late 2004, I estimated about 10 years just from my own limited knowledge. It was just a hunch though.
Construction loans for the average consumer are non-existent in many of these cities. A tough situation for the small business Land Surveyor
> Construction loans for the average consumer are non-existent in many of these cities. A tough situation for the small business Land Surveyor
With good reason...as mentioned in your OP..."Miami, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Atlanta are reeling from overbuilding during the housing boom."
"Home prices in the nation's capital are up 3.6 percent year over year"
Go figure.
Politicians and bureaucrats are the ones with money.
That's an absurd media comment, and it's one person's opinion...
> That's an absurd media comment, and it's one person's opinion...
The "absurd media comment" is from your original post. What's YOUR opinion on why "construction loans for the average consumer are non-existent in many of these cities"?
Mega banks took the stimulus money & TARP, and absorbed the assets of many local community banks thru Govt oversight. The banks decided some higher risk sectors of their business are no longer needed, so they cut out the construction loan business.
This is also what I'm told by some that are in the banking industry. No need to risk when the Govt is giving you "free" money.
Wendell
This one is about to get out of hand. 🙂
Only prob is it's only free to them (so some think)....we paid for it....and did we.
Wendell
LOL All I did was post it! Really! I wasn't trying to be contentious. Honest! 😛
I know. It's a shell game...
Wendell
Actually, for me the only part of my business that is still going is new construction. some are teardowns, and others are vacant land that is "marginal" for development. people have been holding onto these and now prices have come down from the builders so they are pulling the trigger. granted, as a micro-survey company it doesn't take much for me to consider it busy, but it's work.
as always, your results may vary.
> The banks decided some higher risk sectors of their business are no longer needed, so they cut out the construction loan business.
Apparently, I gather from your postings these last 2 weeks, you're a small biz Florida surveyor. Yet, you contend the fact inventory turnover has anything to do with construction loans being high risk.
Hmmm...
Sanibel Island Clientele
> Actually, for me the only part of my business that is still going is new construction. some are teardowns, and others are vacant land that is "marginal" for development. people have been holding onto these and now prices have come down from the builders so they are pulling the trigger. granted, as a micro-survey company it doesn't take much for me to consider it busy, but it's work.
>
> as always, your results may vary.
Lucky for you Andy, the "clientele" on Sanibel Island are a bit removed from the "average consumer". 😉
Wendell
We have a good number of builders in our client list also. what ours are doing is building the house 1st, THEN putting them on the market. No need for a construction loan ...
Wendell
Uh huh...it's called a "spec" home...
NOT good business these days...
And so the shell game keeps going...it's part of an adjustment. Heck, even the best economic experts can't keep up. They to comment on a short term problem with a short term outlook. Stuff changes every month.
Adjustments are not unusual...what's at times unusual is who thinks what is the current problem. The big picture is what Tommy said....it's an adjustment (big picture).
I had 3-4 clients who have been around the block and they pay particular attention to situations that could benefit them in the long run.....not short term but long term.
I've seen of the most horrendous site go for cheap while we were enjoying the boom. Those sites might have been cheap in price but the efforts to survey and develop were high. Now they go for next to nothing. It's all a balancing act. In the boom I paid 47k for a lot to continue to develop (one house at a time) I sold it 3 months ago for 15k.
That loss was part of the adjustment Tommy mentioned. If you don't have the capital to withstand crappy times then expect to take a hit.
Our system will have to develop a new program for the amount of foreclosures and shorts sales. I bet the amount of folks who had good credit now are in the same boat as the ones that have bad credit, and that quite a few nowadays......time....when?...who knows.
And then there are the banks.
