11 News: Houston area home prices down, foreclosures up (sales, lofts)

[jfre81]

Local home prices plunge as foreclosures rise | LOCAL NEWS | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas (http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou080316_tnt_realestate.5f5c3ba4.html?npc - broken link)

No place is immune from the housing meltdown...

[EasilyAmused]

Yeah, those lofts and condos and downtown were bound to be a bust in a downturn. You have to own the physical land to at least ride this mess through.
The xburbs are really going to get nailed.Some of their "mansions" were/are outrageously priced for their location.

[Topaz]

Maybe I can find a good deal when I'm ready to buy in a year!

[Supermac34]

They are seeing exceptional movement on homes right now in the area I live. Of course, prices never got out of control in this area, so there isn't really much room to move down.

[browniebabie]

The area we are in is moving lots of homes as well....we live 610/Ella area past 34th.

Where are you SuperMac- maybe I need to take a looksie!

[Mr. Football]

My neighborhood's foreclosure rate is less than 1%. Sales are strong here (neighbor sold his house in 1 day for asking price) while building continues in neighboring communities. Everything that's going up nearby is on the higher end of the spectrum which hasn't been affected as much by this crisis.

[tstone]

Foreclosures for our neighborhood, 0. The two across the street, 0. The oldest, 'cheapest' ($150k-190k) one across the street, 0.44%. This, according to the Chronicle anyway. Not bad for a burb, but it is still Houston and there haven't been any new houses built for the past decade+. We'll see if they change that by putting up KB homes on the defunct golf course.

Prices at worst have stagnated in our area, but over the past few years have risen an avg 4%. I don't see it changing, considering at least half our neighbors work 10-15 mins away at NASA, a NASA related company/contractor, or at the local medical center.

[chris_ut]

I note very little actual information in the written article, maybe the video had more. They only reference 2 properties in Houston that sold for less than their appraised values, that is hardly statistical backing for their claim. The news is all about sensationalism to get you to watch. Which makes a better headline: "Foreclosures rose from 2 households last month to 6 households this month." or "Foreclosures up 300% in one month!!!!" Nationally less than 1/2 of 1% oh homes are in foreclosure so its not nearly the crisis some make it out to be.

[EasilyAmused]

Other than the lofts/condos deal there aren't any single family foreclosures around me. Basically you can sell these houses very quickly, after you admit you're in trouble.

[Mr. Football]

While it is going to get worse, I think that Houston's relatively strong economy and traditionally low cost of living for housing will buffer us more than other areas of the country.