Shades of gray amid a bleak view of housing prices
WASHINGTON -- The average price of houses sold in the country's 32 largest metropolitan areas during 2007 declined by 3.7%, according to the first official government figures covering the previous year.
The $11,900 slide, from $324,900 at the end of 2006 to $313,000 on Dec. 31, is somewhat larger than the December-to-December drop-off recorded by the National Assn. of Realtors, which reported a more modest 1.4% slip in the median house price.
But the study by the Federal Housing Finance Board includes the sale of new homes, which are often price leaders, both up and down, in local housing markets, whereas the Realtors' survey does not. The association also does not count deals that take place outside local Multiple Listing Services.
The slippage recorded by the housing finance board isn't countrywide, however. Of the 32 market studies, nine experienced rising prices, some quite substantial -- and also probably somewhat aberrational.
In Kansas City, Mo., for example, prices leaped forward in 2007 nearly 35% from $194,500 to $261,000. Obviously, folks in Kansas City aren't bidding up prices by that much. After all, they are suffering under the same mortgage meltdown as people elsewhere. But they are buying more expensive houses than normal.
Las Vegas, the poster child for the price bubble, took an 18.5% hit last year. The average price there fell $75,700 from $409,600 to $333,900.
Boston took it on the nose too. The average in Beantown fell 13.5%, from $385,900 to $333,700. Declines were worse in the normally inexpensive metro areas of Detroit and Cleveland. In Motown, the average price of both new and resale houses sold last year fell 13.9%, from $215,600 to $185,600. In Cleveland, the average swooned 14.5%, from $250,600 to $214,300.
Even though the average price slipped 3.5% in the San Francisco-Oakland market, from $672,200 to $649,000, the Bay Area remains the nation's most expensive metro area for housing.
No. 2 is still San Diego, remaining a distant second at $558,300, an 8.5% decline from $610,400 a year ago.
The Los Angeles area now ranks as the third most expensive market in the country at $502,300. That's off 11% from $564,900 the year before.
New York is fourth on the top 10 list. Prices in the Big Apple remained relatively stable, falling a mere 0.5%, from $473,100 to $470,700.
- A bull market for realty investors Jul 03, 2005
- Average House Price Hits $285,683 in Conejo Valley Sep 06, 1988
- Realtors' Study Says Home Prices Will Rise Dec 20, 1988
