Posts are few and far between now. It was 9 months ago in the April post I was poised to call a comeback of sorts in home prices. With 3 months of price history, already 33% of our surveyed cities showed improvement over 2009 prices. Somewhere along the way we lost momentum and so did my posts.
The WSJ just reported that home prices declined in all 28 major U.S. metropolitan areas during the 4th quarter when compared to 12 months ago.
That is sobering news. Our Great Places to Retire survey doesn't cover large metro areas but it does cover prime small to medium-sized towns and cities and what you might call 'burbs of large metro areas which include the likes of Cambridge, The Woodlands, Naperville and Paradise Valley. Home prices in 60% of our great places were down or unchanged in the past 12 months. Thus, the loss in momentum.
But that means 40% were up, and some in spectacular fashion. Galveston was up 43% and is staging an impressive comeback from a devastating hurricane in '08. Havens for the rich did well with Aspen(+43%), Kailua(+42%), Half Moon Bay(+15%) and Newport Beach(+10%) having a good 2010. More reasonably priced places did well with Fond du Lac up 21% and Fayetteville up 11%.
Colorado, New Mexico and Montana showed positive gains for all cities save for Vail which was down 9% but at a still pricey $995,000 per home sale. Talk of a stable housing market always seems to include Texas and 2 of the 5 Lone Star cities, both near Austin, showed declines in 2010.
Everything else in California, besides the beach havens already mentioned, was down in 2010. Everything in Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and South Carolina was down. Most everything in Washington, Utah, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina was down.
The numbers don't lie. The housing market in a good part of the country, even in some of the great destinations for retirement and recreation, is in the doldrums. But for those in the market, it is still a great time to make that retirement or vacation home purchase. With mortgage rates still low but creeping upward, it might be best to get ahead of the Fed before it starts dumping its $1 trillion worth of Treasuries.
GreatPlacesToRetire.com provides MLS links, city blogs and the latest city data on home sales prices, air quality, water quality, medical care, recreation, crime and more for 99 top retirement cities and towns in the nation. Use GreatPlacesToRetire.com to help you make an informed decision for that retirement home, second home or vacation home acquisition.
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