Realty.com

Home Values: Some Rise, One State Continues to Plunge

Posted April 4, 2010 by Matthew Denton

While other states continue to defy recession, one state suffers tremendously

So we’re in a recession and one of the century’s worst housing market catastrophes yet there’s plenty of reason for some homeowners to smile about. That is, if they live in areas that CNNMoney.com has recently projected to have housing markets appreciating in values. Leading the pack is Santa Rosa, CA whose property market is described: “Many cities close to the Bay Area saw a huge run-up in home prices during the boom as real estate buyers branched out to less expensive markets. Santa Rosa, the largest city in northern California’s wine country, was no exception: Prices grew more than 121% from 2000 to the early 2006 peak.  They’ve since plunged more than 45%. But forecasts show the decline is over and Santa Rosa prices will gain 6% this year, more than any other U.S. city.”

I can attribute a big part of its success to the commercial activity in the area. Santa Rosa’s local and national companies are growing. The city’s official website writes how vibrant its business community is: “As a business and service hub, Santa Rosa is the economic engine that drives the region. Just 55 miles north of San Francisco, you’ll find a vibrant city overflowing with all you love about California. Our restaurant business is booming, along with agriculture, high-tech, biomedical, education, environmental and, of course, tourism. Santa Rosans have a deep appreciation for the arts, education, conscientious business development and quality living.”

Other cities that can experience home value increase in the coming months according to the report include:

Cheyenne, WY (4.7 percent)
Kennewick, WA (4.6 percent)
Merced, CA (4.4 percent)
Fairbanks, AK (4.2 percent)
Bremerton, WA (4.2 percent)
Corvallis, OR (4.1 percent)
Tacoma, WA (3.9 percent)
Anchorage, AK (3.8 percent)
Bend, OR (3.3 percent)
Modesto, CA (3.2 percent)
Pueblo, CO (3.0 percent)
Bellingham, WA (2.9 percent)
Yakima, WA (2.8 percent)
Spokane, WA (2.8 percent)
Billings, MT (2.7 percent)
Olympia, WA (2.3 percent)
Napa, CA (2.3 percent)
Mount Vermont, WA (2.2 percent)
Glenn Falls, NY (2.0 percent)
Great Falls, MT (2.0 percent)
Charleston, S.C. (1.9 percent)
Casper, WY (1.8 percent)
Medford, OR (1.7 percent)
Eugene, OR (1.6 percent)

Now to tally the list, that’s eight cities in Washington, four in Oregon, three in California, two each in Arkansas, Wyoming and Montana, and one each in Colorado, New York and South Carolina.

On the opposite side, there are cities that will continue to be devastated by the plunge in home values, the worse of which is Hanford, CA which CNNMoney.com describes, “Jobs have taken a pummeling here with the unemployment rate soaring to more than 17%, nearly twice the national average. Home prices fell more than 10% in 2009, but that was just a minor rumbling compared with the trembler to come: A 26% drop is predicted for 2010.”

Now that’s a huge drop. But Florida must be more concerned. Eight of its cities are already expected to post losses. These include:

Miami (-22.5 percent)
Fort Lauderdale (-21.3 percent)
West Palm Beach (-18.5 percent)
Pensacola (-13.6 percent)
Gainesville (-13.4 percent)
Deltona (-11.1 percent)
Naples (-10 percent)
Fort Walton Beach (-9.9 percent)
Minneapolis (-9.8 percent)
Jacksonville (-7.5 percent)

But don’t fret. Officials are acting on this issue. The Palm Beach Post reports, “A crushing backlog of foreclosure cases has pushed Florida’s courts to request a one-time payment of $9.6 million to help purge the system and quicken a market recovery. The Florida State Courts Administration estimates 500,000 property foreclosures are pending, including 55,000 in Palm Beach County. Without additional resources to clear the cases, judges fear the bottleneck will continue to drag down home values, which aren’t expected to stabilize until the glut of foreclosures moves through the system.”

Florida just has to brace itself for the worse things to come.

Realty.com is a real estate search portal, dedicated to connecting home buyers and sellers to trusting real estate services. Follow the Realty.com blog for up to date housing news and trends. And monitor local mortgage rates at RealtyGadget.com.