Trends in the United States Real Estate Market
Median home prices reached $ 506,000 in Los Angeles County in March 2006, breaking the half-million-dollar mark for the first time in history. That figure is double the area’s median price just four years ago.
The good news for prospective home buyers in other areas of the country is that half a million dollars can still buy a good chunk of housing in much of the rest of the United States. For example, even though central Oregon is experiencing significant increases in both population and home prices, the median price is lower than Los Angeles County, yet still higher than a significant number from other areas of the country. For example, the median home price in Bend increased more than 30% in 2005, to $ 327,500. Another central Oregon city, Madras, saw an 187% increase in the number of home sales in the first quarter of 2006.
The main force driving the home price boom in Oregon, as well as the Southwest and Pacific Northwest states, is the influx of Californians selling their more expensive homes and moving to areas where they can typically buy more. houses for less money. Another factor is that with rising values, many local homeowners are capitalizing on the equity in their homes and trading for more expensive ones.
Another area that is growing significantly is San Antonio, Texas, where the median home price increased more than 9% over the past year to $ 131,900. However, the San Antonio real estate market mirrored that of Los Angeles County, with few sales, even though prices were higher overall. There is also a considerable amount of new home construction in that area.
Some areas of California are booming as a result of skyrocketing prices in Southern California. One of the busiest is the area that includes Riverside, Ontario and San Bernardino, which has seen an unprecedented increase in new residents between 2000 and 2004, an estimated 46,000 of whom were transplants from the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
In the southeastern United States, Florida also continues to grow at a rapid pace, driven in large part by the influx of former residents of the New York City metropolitan area. In fact, an estimated 41,500 people moved from that area to Orlando, Miami and Tampa in 2004. One of the reasons the area is experiencing such rapid growth is job opportunities. The area’s work scene was once dominated by Disney World, but that’s no longer the case.
Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher