As the markets attempt recovery on a national level, the fallout continues here at home. Even in a strong market like Dallas, residual value erosion is being experienced. This can be good and bad, it just depends on which side of a deal you are on. New Providence Capital helps investors alleviate the oversupply that downturns create.
Give us a call to discuss, or visit our website at www.newprovidencecapital.com.
10:17 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 28, 2009
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com
Dallas-area home prices are down 4.5 percent from a year ago, according to the latest measure by Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller.
Dallas’ decline compares with an 18.6 percent drop nationwide for prices in February compared with a year earlier, according to the closely watched index, which was released Tuesday.
Map: Home prices around the country
Map: Dallas-area pre-owned home sales and prices
Foreclosures map:
Dallas had the smallest price decrease among the 20 cities surveyed.
February’s local numbers also showed a slight improvement from January, when the Dallas index was down about 4.9 percent.
“While the declines in residential real estate continued into February, we witnessed some deceleration in the rate of decline in some of the markets,” S&P’s David M. Blitzer said in the report. “We will certainly need a few more months of data before we can determine if home prices are finally turning around.”
The annual rate of home price decline slowed in almost half the 20 metropolitan areas the Case-Shiller index tracks each month. It was the first time since late 2007 that the nationwide index did not show a record decline.
But many cities still suffered huge price declines, including Phoenix (down 35.2 percent), Las Vegas (down 31.7 percent) and San Francisco (down 31 percent).
S&P analysts said Dallas-area home prices are down 11.1 percent from their peak in mid-2007 – the lowest such drop in their survey. In Phoenix, the hardest-hit market, home prices have fallen more than 50 percent since 2006.
The Case-Shiller survey tracks the prices of typical single-family homes in each metropolitan area. The index survey does not include condominiums and townhouses. It only covers pre-owned properties – no new construction. The researchers compare sales of specific single-family homes over time.
The most recent local home market estimates show that prices were down 8 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period of 2008. Those figures are based on sales of pre-owned homes through the real estate industry’s Multiple Listing Service.
Housing analysts point to the Case-Shiller numbers as an indication that home price declines will moderate in the months ahead.
But don’t expect a quick bottoming, IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport wrote in response to the latest report.
“Housing prices will continue to drop, however, because foreclosures are still rising and because the number of homes on the market is near record levels,” Newport said. “IHS Global Insight does not expect house prices to bottom until next year.
“We expect housing sales and home starts to pick up later this year,” he said. “It will probably be driven by Louisiana and Texas.”
Newport said the national housing market has been through a “terrible depression.”
“That seems to exclude Texas – you never had the run-up in prices.”
Dallas is the only Texas market Case-Shiller includes in its monthly price index.
S&P/CASE-SHILLER HOME PRICE INDEX
Metropolitan area Feburary 1-year change
Atlanta -15.3%
Boston -7.2%
Charlotte -9.4%
Chicago -17.6%
Cleveland -8.5%
Dallas -4.5%
Denver -5.7%
Detroit -23.6%
Las Vegas -31.7%
Los Angeles -24.1%
Miami -29.5%
Minneapolis -20.3%
New York -10.2%
Phoenix -35.2%
Portland -14.4%
San Diego -22.9%
San Francisco -31.0%
Seattle -15.4%
Tampa -23.0%
Washington -19.2%
Composite-20 -18.6%
SOURCE: Standard & Poor’s and Fiserv
