In these cities, the housing crisis is expected to worsen.
Since the late 1970s casino-rich Atlantic City, N.J., has been a
beachfront escape for poker aficionados and Keno-loving retirees
from Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey and New York.
• List: Tomorrow's Real Estate Trouble Spots • Of 315 cities
measured by Local Market Monitor, a Cary, N.C.-based real estate
research firm, the Atlantic City metro is expected to experience
the largest drop in home value over the next 12 months.
A pocket of Northwestern cities where restrictions on building have
artificially inflated prices, and smaller metros whose housing
markets have benefited from internal migration, join Atlantic City
on our list of real estate trouble spots. Like cities in
California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, Atlantic City saw a
dramatic run-up in prices during the housing boom due, in part, to
speculative purchases of second homes; Atlantic County includes
popular beachfront spots such as Margate. But while those bubble
markets have already burst, Atlantic City still has significant
price depreciation ahead; Local Market Monitor predicts the metro's
median home price will fall 9% in the next year. Popular Stories on
Yahoo!: •
"We have not seen the bottom in that market," says Jeffrey
Otteau, president of East Brunswick, New Jersey-based Otteau
Valuation Group, who says the city is still saddled with 12 months
of unsold housing inventory. As the effects of the recession sink
in, the market for second homes in the metro has all but dried up,
delaying a local recovery. What's more, tumbling revenues for the
gambling industry have cost casino workers jobs, damaging the
area's employment base.
Behind the Numbers To put together our list of housing markets
expected to drop, Local Market Monitor measured 315 Metropolitan
Statistical Areas and selected the ones where it anticipated
average home prices would fall most in the next 12 months. It then
narrowed the list to cities where actual average home prices were
at least 10% above their equilibrium price--that's where home
prices should be based on economic fundamentals, and the price to
which they will likely return. LMM calculates its equilibrium price
and home value forecast based on trends in local jobs and income as
well as the historic movement of home prices. Forbes relied on
Local Market Monitor to rank each metro.
Cities in the Pacific Northwest appear on our list, in part,
because some of the strictest land planning policies in the country
have curbed sprawl and propped prices. "It's very hard to overbuild
in this region, because of urban growth boundaries and a fairly
limited supply of developable property," says Randall Pozdena,
managing director of ECONorthwest, a Eugene, Ore.-based
consultancy.
"Wages are 20 to 30% below what wages in the Bay Area are, but home
prices are relatively high. We've created an artificial scarcity
situation."
In Portland, Ore., homes are overvalued by 31%; in Bellingham,
Wash., housing is 22% overpriced and in Eugene, Ore. homes are 21%
more than they should be.
Local Market Monitor expects prices in Portland to fall 9% in the
next year; Eugene prices to drop by 8%; and Bellingham to see a 9%
fall. Smaller metros like Glens Falls, N.Y., Flagstaff, Ariz., and
Salisbury, Md., all of which have a population under 200,000, are
expected to see home prices drop 11%, 13% and 8%, respectively in
the next year.
In these places, small shifts in the local economy can cause big
ripples. "If you have one or two large employers in a smaller
metro, they will have a greater impact on the jobs and income
situation," says Carolyn Beggs, Local Market Monitor COO. "In
larger metros there are more employers, so each employer won't have
as great an effect."
All but two of the cities on our list saw above-average rates of
population growth in the first half of the last decade. Some, like
Provo, Utah, and Portland, Ore., saw their head counts rise by
double-digit numbers (22% and 18%, respectively). Because
in-migration typically boosts demand for housing, the national
recession is due to take a particular toll on them.
"During a recession internal migration within the U.S. drops
sharply," says Ingo Wizner, president of Local Market Monitor,
noting that relocating becomes less financially feasible in hard
times.
"Home prices in these markets are likely to fall for several years,
but will then recover as above-average population growth resumes."
Both Provo, a college town, and trendy Portland have sustaining
appeal to young movers, which will likely pick up along with
economic recovery.
Pozdena's outlook about Portland and other Pacific Northwest cities
is more measured. While he predicts a short-term softening in
prices in Portland, Bellingham and Eugene, he believes that limits
to growth and continued in-migration will keep demand high. "I do
think we've been buoyed by some unusual forces," he says. "But I
see most of those continuing, rather than reversing."
List: Tomorrow's Real Estate Trouble Spots While metros like Miami,
Las Vegas and Los Angeles have gained notoriety for plummeting home
prices, it's not those markets that have the most to worry about
now. These new housing trouble spots, most of which saw home prices
peak after the national average, are set to see major price
corrections in the next year.
To identify them, Local Market Monitor, a Cary, N.C.-based real
estate research firm found the Metropolitan Statistical Areas where
it forecast the biggest average-home-price drops in the next 12
months, and where the actual average home price was 10% or more
above what it would be without market volatility.
Forbes relied on Local Market Monitor to rank each metro. 1.
Metropolitan Statistical Area: Atlantic City-Hammonton, N.J. Saul
Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Equilibrium Home Price: $159,117.00
Overpriced: 54% 12-month Price Forecast: -9% *Forbes relied on
Local Market Monitor to rank each metro.
2. Metropolitan Statistical Area: Provo-Orem, Utah AP/George Frey
Equilibrium Home Price: $136,247.00 Overpriced: 44% 12-month Price
Forecast:-12% *Forbes relied on Local Market Monitor to rank each
metro.
3. Metropolitan Statistical Area: Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton,
Ore.-Wash. Shutterstock Equilibrium Home Price: $189,818.00
Overpriced: 31% 12-month Price Forecast: -9% *Forbes relied on
Local Market Monitor to rank each metro.
4. Metropolitan Statistical Area: Glens Falls, N.Y. AP/Mike Groll
Equilibrium Home Price: $177,003.00 Overpriced: 22% 12-month Price
Forecast: -11% *Forbes relied on Local Market Monitor to rank each
metro.
5. Metropolitan Statistical Area: Bellingham, Wash. Cynthia
Smith/iStock Equilibrium Home Price: $230,024.00 Overpriced: 22%
12-month Price Forecast: -9% *Forbes relied on Local Market Monitor
to rank each metro. New Article Published by Forbes by
Francesca
Levy Wednesday, April 28, 2010 If you would like to learn how to
start cleaning bank foreclosures,go to:
http://www.dreamstreetinvestments.com/cleaningforeclosures.aspx
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