House prices plunge: All Hub gains since March ’04 vanish

[ckramer]

Boston house prices plunged last month at their fastest pace in more than 13 years, erasing all gains recorded since early 2004, new figures show.

Market tracker The Warren Group reported yesterday that median house-sale prices in Suffolk County, which mostly consists of Boston, fell to $325,950 - a stunning 13.31 percent decline from October 2005.

That drops prices back to May 2004 levels. It’s also the sharpest 12-month pullback since 1993.

http://business.bostonherald.com/realestateNews/view.bg?articleid=169540

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Holy Cow.

In my neighborhood (Newton Corner), the few houses that have sold in the last year went for about 25% below asking. I thought I'd read that the drop was over - I guess that was wishful thinking by the realty syndicate.

[Warpy]

2. Yow! Just last month there was an article floating around

that said while housing stock was still sitting on the market forever in most of the country, the Boston area had begun to recover.

I guess the sniff test for rosy real estate articles is going to take a month.

Prices here in central New Mexico have fallen about 15% according to what I'm seeing on weekend real estate shows. Two houses on my block, one fully renovated, have been sitting on the market since June, amazing for an area that is both cheap and convenient.

[1932]

8. The more dire the market, the bigger the lies the media tells, apparently.

Those articles you read probably only appeared because warning lights were going off.

[TexasLawyer]

3. What Statistics on Home Sales Aren’t Saying/NYT

Economix
What Statistics on Home Sales Aren’t Saying

By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: December 6, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/06/business/06leonhardt.html?em&ex=1165726800&en=9829e7a4beff60f5&ei=5087%0A

<snip>

The truth is that the official numbers on house prices — the last refuge of soothing information about the real estate market on the coasts — are deeply misleading. Depending on which set you look at, you’ll see that prices have either continued to rise, albeit modestly, or have fallen slightly over the last year. But the statistics have a number of flaws, perhaps the biggest being that they are based only on homes that have actually sold. The numbers overlook all those homes that have been languishing on the market for months, getting only offers that their owners have not been willing to accept.

In reality, homes across much of Florida, California and the Northeast are worth a lot less than they were a year ago. The auction in Naples may have exaggerated the downturn in the market there, but not by much. Tom Doyle, a Naples real estate agent, estimated that a typical house there, sold in the normal way, would go for about 20 percent less than it did the previous fall.

[Voltaire99]

4. Just. The. Beginning.

The real fun is on the way, folks. Hope you're not planning to "cash out" on your "gains" in the near future. OTOH, if you'd like to buy but are part of the majority who've been locked out by bubble prices, don't jump on the first wave of deals. In some markets, the bottom is a long way down.

If you want to follow this issue at the most informative and perspicacious site devoted to it, visit http://www.thehousingbubbleblog.com

Mark it: housing will swiftly become the leading domestic concern next year and, as the recession starts, may ultimately become a lever for re-introducing economic populism.

[Big Kahuna]

5. Lots of houses for rent up here in New Hampshire

I've never seen anything like it. Maybe next year I can buy a 4000sq foot McMansion at auction, and start a hippie colony :rofl:

[w4rma]

6. Good. Plunge some more. Let the hot air out of the bubble. (nt)

[diamidue]

7. Interesting site

If you scroll down about 2/3 of the page, you will find a daily list of housing articles culled from various sources around the country.

http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html#links

Also, a poster at this site keeps a running tab as well.

http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=43099&page=6

Not a lot of encouraging news on the housing situation.

[Katzenjammer]

9. Just think what those big, expensive oceanview houses will be worth

after the Ross Shelf breaks off. Seventeen foot increase in the sea level? That puts most of Boston and Cambridge under water, the Cape, probably Nantucket and Kerry's estate, most of Manhattan, the islands off the Carolinas and Georgia, most of Florida and the Keys, the south coast generally, and Goddess knows what it will do to the Caribbean, Bangladesh, southeast Asia, and islands like Vanuatu.

"Oceanfront property" is going to take on a whole new meaning.

[goforit]

10. here we go folks.