Monday, September 21, 2009

Home prices could fall another 14%

From BusinessWeek's Hot Property blog:
Daniel Alpert, Managing Partner at Manhattan boutique investment bank Westwood Capital, says that home prices could fall another 14% by the time the slump is over.

To understand why, it helps to divide the metros into two separate categories, rather than to lump all of them together, he argues. According to his analysis, home prices in 13 of the 20 metros included in the Case Shiller index could continue to drop: Denver, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Charlotte, New York, Cleveland, Portland, Texas and Seattle. The former bubble markets where prices fell early and fast are likely closer to the bottom, he said. They are: Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Miami, Tampa, and Las Vegas.
As I've said before, Phoenix and Las Vegas are starting to look fairly valued compared to their historical values.

8 comments:

  1. Living in the desert is likely to become less and less attractive over the next 50 years. Historical values may not be applicable in these cases.

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  2. "Living in the desert is likely to become less and less attractive over the next 50 years."

    why? I cant stand living in the middle of nowhere, but I know a lot of people that love it.

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  3. Water rationing will likely become a problem in populous desert cities.

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  4. Part of the water problem is that people in desert cities want to live just like people everywhere else.

    If you put in a xeriscape instead of a green lawn, you wouldn't need to water the lawn.

    If you put in a composting toilet, you wouldn't consume as much water.

    If you collected and used greywater, you could reduce your water consumption.

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  5. "Water rationing will likely become a problem in populous desert cities."

    supply and demand though. If its profitable to figure out a way to solve that problem, it will be solved.

    If enough people live in the desert and need water...and are willing to pay a premium for it, someone will come up with a way to solve that problem and supply it.

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  6. The point in people won't be willing to pay exorbitant prices to live in the desert. As water supplies tighten and prices go up people will not choose to live there. Its already happening in some areas.

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  7. Well thats all pretty depressing stuff. But if you chhose to live there yor have to face up to the consequences of your actions

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