In his Feb. 14th, 2008 commentary, Dr. Lawrence Yun commented on the reality of the current state of the nationwide housing market. He states, that although the national media churns out article after article about how bad the housing market is, there are many markets which are not only seeing appreciation, but are red hot!

He notes that while the big laterday boom markets such as Las Vegas, some coastal states where subprime loans predominated, Florida, Detroit and Sacramento are suffering serious value declines, other markets such as upstate New York, most of Texas, and Utah are increasing in value.

His ultimate analysis draws a picture of economic prosperity where housing markets can't be contained in a bubble of fear forever.

        "Many markets have solid fundamentals of very affordable home prices, solid job and wage gains, and limited new home construction to keep inventory in check. Madison, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City are just a few examples. These markets have virtually no chance of prolonged significant price declines. Yet the constant message we hear from the media - "perhaps the worst since the Great Depression" (this is the media's message)- is raising fear among consumers."

He goes on to quote anecdotal evidence that there is pent up demand in the market place; many people are looking, but noone is buying due to fear about the possibility of further decline in valuations. Furthermore, the expectation remains that one million jobs will be created this year and in the second half of the year the number of sales will dramatically increase.

Scott Finley           www.scottsellskc.com

Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors was the primary source for this blog, please visit his article at -

http://www.realtor.org/research/commentary_forecast.html