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Home prices plummeted in much of the country during the 12 months ending in September, as foreclosures and short sales flooded housing markets.
Nationally, the median house price
fell 9 percent from the third quarter of 2007
to the third quarter of 2008, according to the
National Association of Realtors. Half of homes
sold for more than the median price. In the third
quarter of this year, the national median price
for a single-family house was $200,500. A year
earlier, it had been $220,300.
In other words, the typical house lost $54.25
in value each day for a year.
Those are national numbers, and real estate is
local. The Realtors track prices in 156 metropolitan
areas. The metro numbers show that the news is
decidedly grim in cities in the so-called sand
states (California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada).
Conversely, things look downright cheery in four
metro areas in the Northeast and Midwest.
The housing market that fared worst was Riverside-San
Bernardino, Calif., where the median house price
fell 39.7 percent in 12 months. The median house
price in that market was $227,200 in the third
quarter of this year, compared with a median price
of $377,000 a year earlier. That translates into
a daily loss of value of -- put down your coffee
-- $410.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have Elmira,
N.Y., where the median house prices rose 12.5
percent in 12 months, to $105,000 from $93,300.
Three other metro areas had house-price growth
of more than 5 percent: Decatur, Ill. (8.7 percent);
Bloomington-Normal, Ill. (8.1 percent), and Wichita,
Kan. (5.5 percent).
Sand trap
But the big news is what's happening in those
sand states, where nine metro areas posted house
price declines of more than 25 percent in one
year. In addition to Riverside-San Bernardino,
they are:
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| Metro areas down by at least 25 percent |
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Sacramento,
down 36.8 percent, to $212,000. |
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San
Diego, down 36 percent, to $377,300 |
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Los
Angeles, down 33.5 percent, to $391,400. |
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Fort
Myers-Cape Coral, Fla., down 31 percent,
to $163,300. |
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Las
Vegas, down 28.4 percent, to $211,600. |
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Phoenix,
down 27.6 percent, to $185,100. |
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Anaheim-Santa Ana, Calif., down 26.2 percent, to $517,300. |
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San Francisco-Oakland, down 25.4 percent, to $615,700. In this expensive metro area, the median house price fell $209,700 in one year, or $574.50 a day. |
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