Home prices fell 3.2% in the second quarter of 2007 when compared to the same period in 2006. 15 out of the 20 cities tracked by Case Schiller saw declines. This decline for the nation is the largest ever recorded by the Case Schiller index in its 20 year history.For us in Central Florida, Tampa saw the second worst decline at 7.7% meaning we’re basically the worst market in the nation. Yikes! Another way to look at this situation is that it is a great time to buy at the bottom of the market. You can’t ever figure out the exact bottom but we’ve gotta be getting close.
What is more worrisome is that these figures ended in July before we really started hearing about the sub prime crisis with consumers. My guess it that the numbers will be even worse for this reason in Q3 and we’ll end up at levels similar to the real estate market following the savings & loan crisis in the early 90’s. Here is the link to the full report from Standard & Poor’s Case Schiller index.
NY Times online published an article by Robert Shiller entitled “A Time for Bold Thinking on Housing” that’s one of the best assessments of the current housing market.
