RadarLogic: Sacramento Leads Nation with 31.7% Price Drop
From Inman News:
The Sacramento, Calif., area topped the list for price decline with a 31.7 percent year-over-year drop in the price per square foot in April, according to the RPX Monthly Housing Market Report [pdf], which is based on values of a daily price-per-square-foot index during a 28-day period in April.From the Sacramento Bee:
In Antelope, Randy Fatius, 55, has had it. He says he's walking away from the 1,200-square-foot house he bought in October 2005. Fatius made his last payment in March. Until April, he had never missed a payment.From the Sacramento Bee:
...
Walking away is embarrassing, Fatius, a pipefitter and welder, admits. But staying is "stupid," he says..."I crunched the numbers and it floored me," he says. He figures he's lost around $200,000 in less than three years and that "it would take me 17 years to get back the value I've lost."
...
This was the first home Fatius bought. "I don't think I'll ever buy a house again," he says...He expects he can stay in it two or three more months. Afterward, he says, he'll move to the Pacific Northwest...Looking back almost three years after buying, Fatius says, "I had a gut feeling from the beginning I shouldn't have done it. I've felt it the whole time."
Downtown isn't immune to market forces. Projects opening now were mostly started during the real estate boom – and were too far along to stop when the bottom fell out. Housing has been particularly hard hit. Downtown developers say they've had to heavily discount their product to move it, and they're making little, if any, profit these days. "This is a depression in real estate; everybody who was really flying high isn't anymore," said developer Mark Friedman, who has sold 12 of his 26 Sutter Brownstones in midtown.From the Manteca Bulletin:
It is without the doubt the largest housing-related foreclosure yet in the Manteca-Lathrop market. Hundreds of lots in Beck Properties' highly-touted Oakwood Lake Shores and two sister developments in Mossdale Landing are now in the foreclosure process. It marks the first, major development to start the foreclosure process and is a clear sign that a significant up tick in home sales since March may not be enough to rescue large segments of the collapsing real estate economy.From the St. Helena Star:
No place has been more affected than San Joaquin County, said [Stan] Brody [of Burlingame-based U.S. Mortgage Corporation], where 1,600 homes have been foreclosed upon and 22,000 are in one stage or another of default. “In Stockton, which is ‘ground-zero’ for California, we closed escrow for $197,000 on a property that sold previously for $550,000,” he added.
9 comments:
In Stockton, which is ‘ground-zero’ for California, we closed escrow for $197,000 on a property that sold previously for $550,000
YAAAAAWN. Lately my attention has been diverted to the food markets. If the world doesn't wise up quick & I mean right quick we'll have more to worry about than homes. World starvation will take hold. Costco & Sams club rationing rice, a main food stable, was an early warning siren. Least you think America may be able to avoid this being a steak & eggs country we'll pay dearly for that in the next few years. So hang on everyone. Food prices will go through the roof. Also becoming a vegitarian isn't exactly cheap either....
Example: I recently went to Safeway to look at picking up some chicken breast. I nearly choked. $7lb! I remember paying that for steak two years ago.
The same market forces that created the housing bubble are the ones driving up prices in other commodities.
I mentioned before many times that this period will be known as the 'Global Asset Bubble' by the time we are thru.
I stand behind those comments.
Just as in the housing bubble years, it is easy to find those who justify the higher prices.
In reality, there is no justification. Except for the great stupidity of deriving ethanol from corn.
Interesting you picked up the Manteca story as I came across the notes I put on Max's site... that local appraisers believe Manteca is no longer a declining market.
A developer loosing a few hundred empty lots to the bank means nobody will be building on those for a year. - there's a few thousand around the valley.
SMF - I hear ya and thats the "smart money" big dollar institutional, etc. all looking for returns.
But staying is "stupid," he says..."
Words to live by.
Were right on track for a 50% decline and a 60% decline for Antelope by 2009.
Happy Monday :)
Interesting you picked up the Manteca story as I came across the notes I put on Max's site... that local appraisers believe Manteca is no longer a declining market.
Well, isn't that nice, sippn?
So, when are we to start believing the same people who had it soooo wrong after the burst?
Now?
I don't think so.
"In reality, there is no justification. Except for the great stupidity of deriving ethanol from corn."
There's perfect justification, smf. When you're money won't buy as much today as it did yesterday (literally) you expect prices to come down? The ethanol farce will go away, the challenge to meet world food demand will continue to be pressured. It's purely a numbers game from a world population standpoint. Higher input costs mean higher end product prices which in turn require higher wages to offset them. The first two components are in high gear, but wages in the US are not rising...It all adds up to some uncomfortable times ahead.
"So hang on everyone. Food prices will go through the roof."
My advice, buy a freezer and load it up at today's prices. When beef finally catches up, a good steak will probably cost $20-25 / lb. Chicken is projected to rise another 30% from here.
The same market forces that created the housing bubble are the ones driving up prices in other commodities.
Sheesh I hope your right. I really do.
But as sick as this sounds I can't help but think that there is some economic warfare going on with the "up & coming" countries. From an economic standpoint the U.S. could take on Europe alone. But add to that mix India, China, and Russia Uncle Sam is busier than a one legged man in a four way kick butting contest. The United States has many weapons in their arsenal that doesn't include bombs. With the average U.S.citizen paying 6%-10% towards food that sort of "capital" can be leverged AGAINST other countries (economic warfare) that pay typically 50%-85% right now towards food.
So, looking at previous bubble charts I see the corrlation that your drawing but it's a sad one.(I don't know "who" is driving up the commodities be it Hedge funds, investment banks ect since they have access to an unlimited amounts of cash) But now were hurting people who can't defend against this sort of run up.
It's just sick.
Take a look at what is happening financially in other countries.
Europe already had gas riots.
China's Shanghai stock market is down 50% for the year.
In India, an apartment that costs $800K can only be rented for $800/month.
If the US were alone in having economic problems I'll be worried. But we are not alone.
Can you imagine what would happen if the US stops importing so much from China?
Or what would happen when China and India stop subsidizing gas prices?
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