Folks who were lucky enough to be able to read today's Des Moines Register got a hint that we might not have yet seen the bottom of value and sales declines in the Des Moines metro and surrounding counties.
According to the top of the fold front page article "Developers land goes to auction" huge swaths of development ground are scheduled for sheriffs sale in the coming months marking yet another sad chapter in the near annihilation of the metro's home building market. Local banks are holding about $163 million" in building and commercial property" foreclosures and are holding a total of $200 million in foreclosed property all told. $38 million is set to go to sale in the next few months.
These parcels represent properties from the portfolios of Regency Homes, Walters Companies, John Kline and the Ed Boesen estate according to Donnelle Eller the article's author. Earlier last week it was announced that Walter's 13,000 sq. ft. personal home had been foreclosed on and was up for sale for $3.5 million making it at once the metro's most expensive ever listed home and foreclosed residential property.
The planned sherriff's sales follow on the heels of surging area foreclosure rates for 2008: Polk County 1,735 foreclosures, or just over 1% of all homes. Dallas County 158, Warren County 116, Madison County 28 and Jasper County 128. (Source, Iowa Independent 02/03/09)
In related news the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors issued its sales numbers for January. Unit sales were down 28.5%, average sales price down 16%, and average days on marketing vaulting 17 to 107, an almost 19% increase.
With its heavy reliance on finance, insurance, agriculture and publishing, Des Moines has not been immune to the job and wage cuts that have become everyday headlines across the nation. We've been somehwhat insulated because our annuity and ag businesses have done relatively well, but Farm Bureau Financials announcing 920 layoffs recently shows that area employers are feeling the pinch with the rest of the nation.
Then I turn on the TV and see what s going on outside our little bubble: a veiled woman joins a group of pilgrims in Iraq and blows them and herself up, insurgents burn girls schools in in the Swat valley, Pakistan conceeds swaths of the rural countryside to religious rule, Japan's GDP shrinks 10%, Russia is essentially lawless, A member of the Khmer Rouge goes on trial for genocide, the Tamils are shooting fleeing civilians, and we haven't even got to Africa. All in all I'd say I'm pretty happy I'm in Iowa. As bad as it gets, were pretty unlikely to be shot by militants, blown up by extremist splinter groups, hijacked or kidnapped and held captive in malaria infested jungles. And these days, that's something worth noting, daily.
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