Sales of Homes in Midwest States Rise
March 11, 2008
We could be close to rock bottom in the overall real estate market. The Midwestern states, which have been among the hardest hit in recent months, are now showing a glimmer of hope as we just start to enter the springtime selling and buying season.According to the most recent statistics from the National Association of Realtors for this region, sales were still down 20% from January of last year, but up 3.4% from December. Prices in the Midwest were still off 4% from last year. However, prices in the Northeast, where cities like Boston were the first to start absorbing descending prices, the median price rose 3% from last year.
This opinion is shared by at least one economist. Joel Naroff, chief economist of Naroff Economic Advisors, expects that sales will bottom over the next few months.
Meanwhile, the sale of upper-end luxury homes in many markets continue to move. According to Pat Kirby of Great Properties Magazine and the GreatWaterfrontLiving.com website, homes in the million-plus category are going under contract in places like Dallas and Houston. “The upper income demographic of our population has not been affected by the mortgage crunch, and in some cases are paying cash for luxury homes.” In addition, he goes on to say that, “all along the Texas gulf coast, waterfront real estate is really starting to heat up. In contrast to other oceanfront and gulf coast areas of the country, Texas is still a comparative bargain. With interest rates at historically low levels, this is a great opportunity to buy, and that is exactly how people from other parts of the U.S. view the Texas real estate market.”
