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Craig Greene: The Best Housing Markets of 2010
Some U.S. housing markets have fared quite well regardless of the economic turmoil of recent years. These markets share a few things in common: modestly appreciating home prices, a high affordability rating, better-than-average economic activity and a low foreclosure rate.
RealtyTrac, an online marketplace of foreclosure listings, estimates that 4.5 million foreclosure filings are expected in 2010, up from 2.8 million in 2009. This weighs heavily on the housing market. Foreclosures supply an excess of inventory that destabilizes home prices.
Louisville, Ky., is faring well partially because it has a 1.15 percent foreclosure rate, the lowest in the country, and about half the national average. Louisville — as opposed to some coastal cities and vacation destinations — never really encountered the boom, so it’s been less affected by the bust.
Midwestern cities such as Indianapolis, Minneapolis and St. Louis have among the best housing markets largely because they have some of the best housing affordability rates in the country. Indianapolis had the highest affordability with 96 percent of homes affordable to families making the median income.
According to Forbes, Pittsburgh, Penn., has the best housing market in the country for a host of reasons: the second-lowest foreclosure rate, a housing affordability rate of 85 percent, home prices anticipated to increase 2.67 percent in 2010, and a diversified and comparatively robust economy. This stable economy is largely because of Pittsburgh transforming itself, over several decades, from a center of manufacturing to one of education and health care.
Stable economic activity is also boosting the real estate markets in Tacoma and Seattle, Wash. The housing market in Memphis has fared well and is expected to improve, largely because the city’s largest employer, FedEx, will be one of the first industries to rebound in the economy recovery.
— Craig Greene is a senior loan officer at Prospect Mortgage, 3916 State St., Suite 100, Santa Barbara 93105. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 805.898.4211.
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