While some housing markets across the country are being hit hard with rising foreclosure rates and excess home inventory -Stockton, CA, and Las Vegas to name a few - Manhattan seems to be sitting pretty in its New York City bubble.
The average Manhattan home soared 41 percent in a year to $1.6 million in the first three months of 2008, according to a report by ResidentialNYC.com, a Web site managed by The Real Estate Board of New York.
NYC high rollers
Compared to other New York boroughs, Manhattan's recent price surge is the exception. An average apartment in the Upper West Side will ring you up $2,098,000. In Brooklyn, prices rose an average of only 3 percent, to $582,000. Average prices in Queens and Staten Island were both down by 5 percent, at $458,000 and $427,000 respectively. Average prices in the Bronx slipped by 1 percent to $396,000.
While the National Association of Realtor's (NAR) housing report released this week found that the national median price of a home sold last month dropped to $200,700, a decline of 7.7 percent from the median price a year ago, investing in a home is still a profitable bet no matter where you live.
Betting on your home
According to NAR, the national median price of existing homes has increased an average of more than 6 percent every year over the past 30 years, with home values nearly doubling every 10 years.
A Federal Reserve study has shown the average homeowner's net worth is 46 times the net worth of the average renter and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found 60 percent of the average homeowner's wealth is from their home's equity.
No one said the aftermath of the housing storm was going to be pretty. But there are certain truths in life that remain constant: death, taxes and home-value appreciation.
Got hot local housing tips or a story you want to share? Contact Amy Le at openingdoorsblog@homescape.com.
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