US house prices in freefall -- le deuxième

[DanS]

The US house market is accelerating into another freefall. In 20 of the largest metro areas, prices declined 1.85% from August to September -- and a 17.4% decline from a year ago. All 20 metros experienced a decline, which is a difference from the freefall last winter where Charlotte, Dallas and the like were spared.

Here's a full list of the declines put together by the WSJ. San Francisco, Las Vegas and Phoenix were hammered again. Poor Phoenix is down 32% from a year ago.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/11/25/a-look-at-case-shiller-numbers-by-metro-area-4/

These falls are quite amazing.

[KrazyHorse]

Southwestern irrational exuberance

Las Vegas 146.58 -2.6% -31.3%
Los Angeles 184.54 -2.5% -27.6%
Phoenix 139.79 -3.5% -31.9%
San Diego 164.12 -2.4% -26.3%
San Francisco 145.53 -3.9% -29.5%

The only non-southwest which even comes close is

Miami 178.72 -2.6% -28.4%

[KrazyHorse]

I'm surprised Denver hasn't seen the same type of decline. One would think that they have more in common with Sun Belt cities than they do with Northeast/East Coast cities that have similarly only seen minor declines.

[Dis]

ya well prices were vastly over inflated. Considering wages in my city have not went up, and went down in some cases (as where I work), no one could actually afford to by a house.

So if no one can afford to buy houses, you kind of expect the prices will eventually drop.

I'm normally against wage redistribution, and fear the upcoming socialist revolution. But at some point you have to close the wage disparities. It gets so bad under republican rule.

[Arrian]

Hmm. NYC -7.3% since last year. Boston -5.7%. I live between the two. This jives with my observations: our market wasn't insane.

The Southwest... wow.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Detroit 90.17 -2.5% -18.6%

Ouch.

-Arrian

[KrazyHorse]

I think the dynamics there are less irrational exuberance and more long-term decline...

[Dis]

I might actually be able to buy another house here now lol. I was so glad I got one when I could back in 2000. Prices skyrocketed since then. Almost in my price range again. . But with the credit crisis, I'll probably have to save up 25%. Which would be like $80,000. That could take a while to save up.

[DanS]

It will still take a while to get back to 2000 prices. In Las Vegas, we're now at January 2004 prices.

Your real estate market is well and truly fvcked up.

[Dis]

well we do have lack of space problems, well we did. . BLM only releases small amounts of land to developers. So houses are really crammed together.

I actually support this as it reduces urban sprawl. It increases population density, but reduces the city from going over the mountains into other valleys (although pahrump has seen alot of growth).

[chequita guevara]

The NYC metro area may be experiencing drops, but my understanding is that in Manhattan, prices are still going up.

[DanS]

It seems unlikely that this will continue, what with such a high percentage of NYC jobs related to finance.

[One_more_turn]

We may see the government start buying foreclosures and excess inventories next year.

The current episode marked a catastrophic failure of free market economy. What we are going to see next is a bloodless transition to socialism. 2008 marked the end of Wall Street as we know it.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by One_more_turn
We may see the government start buying foreclosures and excess inventories next year.

The current episode marked a catastrophic failure of free market economy. What we are going to see next is a bloodless transition to socialism. 2008 marked the end of Wall Street as we know it.

[One_more_turn]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

Mark my post, we will check back in 2 years.

If you are not careful, you will be wiped out in this process by the government.