US house prices freefall continues

[DanS]

These nationwide price falls are relentless -- 2.2% from February to March. About one-third off the peak of July 2006. There's got to be ton of folks underwater, making it impossible for them to move.

Poor Minneapolis dropped 6.1% in just one month. Detroit fell 4.9%. Phoenix fell 4.5%. Las Vegas 3.8%. And so on.

New York and Boston are finally joining the fun with falls of 2.5% and 2.0%, respectively.

Denver and Charlotte are the only two out of 20 metro areas to have price increases.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/05/26/a-look-at-case-shiller-numbers-by-metro-area-9/

[Arrian]

My house has apparently lost ~17% since I bought it in June of 2007. That's just going off of Zillow.

That doesn't really bother me, except for the fact that I'll have to pay PMI if I refinance (the other option, the Freddie Mac Relief Refinance program, waives PMI by forces you to refi through your original lender. Without the ability to shop around, the quoted rates are .5 - .75% higher than the national average).

-Arrian

[MOBIUS]

Property prices have been looking less bad on this side of the pond lately, but we're by no means out of the woods...

Still, not a problem unless you have to sell.

[Arrian]

I saw a graph of the housing markets of the US, UK, Spain and... I forget the 4th one. Shockingly enough, ours looked the least inflated. Yikes.

-Arrian

[chequita guevara]

Good news for those of us who were being priced out of the market. Bad news for everyone else.

[MOBIUS]

Either way, my mortgage is at least 25% cheaper than a comparable rented property.

[KrazyHorse]

These nationwide price falls are relentless -- 2.2% from February to March. About one-third off the peak of July 2006. There's got to be ton of folks underwater, making it impossible for them to move.

Jingle mail + renting

Not impossible at all.

[KrazyHorse]

Either way, my mortgage is at least 25% cheaper than a comparable rented property.

Then your house was almost certainly bought prior to some substantial and unexpected increases in local property values which the recent housing downturn have not wiped out.

[DanS]

Jingle mail + renting

Not impossible at all.

Well, impossible while keeping your credit rating intact.

[Drake Tungsten]

Does this mean I should buy a house in DC as opposed to renting?

[Guynemer]

Only if you think we've hit bottom. And I think we're still a ways off from that.

But, hey, average home price in Detroit is now something like $12,000, so there's an investment for you.

[Lorizael]

Only if you think we've hit bottom. And I think we're still a ways off from that.

But, hey, average home price in Detroit is now something like $12,000, so there's an investment for you.

I just bought a car for 50% more than that. wtf?

[Kontiki]

Why bother even buying a house in Detroit? There are several thousand that have just been abandoned for years - help yourself!

[Guynemer]

Exactly.

Detroit's population is down over 50% from its peak in the mid-20th Century, when it was the fourth-highest in the nation, and arguably the second-most important after NYC.

[KrazyHorse]

Only if you think we've hit bottom. And I think we're still a ways off from that.

This is ridiculous advice.

He should buy instead of renting if he thinks that the discounted value of future (imputed) rents on the type of housing he wants in the area he wants is higher than the price he would have to pay, once all tax advantages etc. are thrown in.

Nobody can time a market bottom. At least nobody here. And there is no need to.