The housing market continues to go into decline according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Expert indications are that it will continue to decline in 2012. Some areas have been hit worse than other areas.
Recently, the Housing Misery Index was published by Trulia, an online real estate search and marketing website. The reports lists and ranks each state’s housing market, taking into consideration the changes in home prices plus the rates of delinquency and foreclosure. They also tend to have high unemployment.
One thing that is interesting to note is that many of the states hit the hardest are the ones that had experienced large housing booms previously during the housing bubble. Now there is a lot of extra inventory that hasn’t sold or homes that remain vacant.
There is hope for these ares. As lower and lower prices make living in theses areas more affordable, people may seek them out. The affordability may make these “worse” areas more attractive in the long run. Interestingly, many of the hardest hit areas are popular vacation or retirement destinations.
So if you find yourself with good finances and are looking for inexpensive housing, you might want to consider purchasing a home in one of these areas. Keep in mind that individual housing prices might still be higher than you expect. The index compares previous pricing (during the boom) with current drops in pricing. Still they are at their lowest than they have been in decades.
Here are the top five states with the worse housing markets, according to Trulia’s Housing Misery Index.
1. Nevada
2. Florida
3. Arizona
4. California
5. Michigan
Is your area one of the ones that is hit hardest? If so, is it really as bad as the reports suggest? Would you consider purchasing a home in one of these “Housing Misery Index” areas?
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