FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1982 INDEX OF CHICAGO IL HOME PRICES DROPS!
FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1982 INDEX OF CHICAGO IL HOME PRICES DROPS!
INDEX DROPS 0.1% FROM 2ND – 3RD QUARTER 2007 – BUT STILL UP VERSUS 2006!
Statistics from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight indicate the Housing Price Index in the Chicago Metropolitan area actually dropped a slight bit going into the Third Quarter but housing prices here are still 2.2% higher on average than they were a year ago. According to the OFHEC Chicago ranks 155 out of 287 markets nationally for annual appreciation rate.
National figures closely parallel the Chicago trend – a slight drop in average prices at the start of the Third Quarter 2007 but an overall 1.8% increase across the U.S. versus the Third Quarter 2006.
Tighter loan underwriting standards coupled with the sub-prime lending crisis and some general pessimism about the real estate market has contributed to the U.S. housing market malaise. States fairing the worst saw considerable speculation during the recent boom years – Florida and California.
“Rising inventories of for-sale properties are clearly having a material impact on home prices” OFHEO Chief Economist Patrick Lawler said in a press release. “Until those inventories shrink that will be a great source of resistance to price increases.”
The OFHEO estimates price trends by tracking purchases or refinances of the same single family homes. It uses a price ceiling of $417000. Above that price Jumbo Loan Rules would apply. That figure is the maximum loan amount that government-chartered firms can invest in.
The market with the biggest year-to-year price decline was Merced California (in California’s Central Valley) where the year-to-year decline was 13%. Wentachee Washington about 150 miles east of Seattle had the best price appreciation 2007 versus 2006 – 15.7%. Provo-Orem Utah was second in appreciation percentage at 14.4%.
Review the entire summary article in the November 30th Online Edition of ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com published by Crain’s Chicago Business.
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