And the Good News Is...

November 20, 2008

It's getting to be more and more difficult to find good news on TV. Reporters seem to be reveling in stirring up as much "doom and gloom" news as they can – after all it's been proven that bad news sells better than good. Our addiction to news tickers and 24 hour coverage was solidified during horrific news events of the last decade. But there IS positive news to be found if you dig hard enough.

28 Metropolitan areas showed increases in median existing single-family home prices from the same quarter in 2007. Areas such as Elmira NY, Tulsa OK, Wichita KS and Urbana IL.

But even in areas where average home sales have dropped drastically, there is good news. Buyers who have been shut out of the home ownership market, are now finding that they can afford to buy. And they ARE buying. Three states where the ‘housing bubble' has burst are seeing some of the highest increases in sales. The largest sales gain during the third quarter was in Arizona, up 28.3 percent from the second quarter, followed by California which rose 28.1 percent and Nevada, up 26.2 percent. These areas have seen some of the strongest sales gains with some reports of multiple bidding.

And there's also good news for sellers. The typical seller purchased their home six years ago and is still experiencing net equity gains, even in today's depressed markets. The national increase in value since the third quarter of 2002 is 18.3 percent, which is a median gain of $31,000. Even with the current downward price distortion, 90 percent of metro areas are showing six-year price gains.

So while we are definitely in turbulent economic times, there is GOOD NEWS to be found if you look for it. Hopefully, some home buying incentives will be passed soon to stimulate even more home ownership. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said that, "A pattern of sharply higher sales in areas with large price declines is well established," Yun said. "Affordability conditions have consistently been a major factor in driving sales. Historically during recessions, buyers have responded to incentives and it's important for government to keep that in the forefront of stimulus decisions."

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Local Information for Chicago, IL

Latitude: 41.840675 -- Longitude: -87.679365

Other Area Cities: Naperville Calumet Park Chicago Oak Park Niles Country Club Hills

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Chicago (IPA pronunciation ??'ka?go, ?i'kæ?g?; shi-cah-go, shi-caw-go) is the largest city in the state of Illinois, the largest in the Midwest, and, with a population of three million people, is the third-most populous city in the United States. The Chicago metropolitan area (colloquially known as Chicagoland) has a population of over 9.5 million people in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, making it also the third largest metropolitan area in the United States.[1] Chicago is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is a major center of transportation, industry, politics, culture, finance, medicine and higher education. Chicago is the financial, business, and cultural capital of the Midwest. Founded in 1833 at the site of a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, it soon became a transportation hub of North America. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Illinois 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Chicago	Illinois	United States
Population	2,896,016	12,419,293	281,421,906
Median age	31.5	34.7	35.3
Median age for Male	30.5	33.3	34
Median age for Female	32.6	36	36.5
Households	1,061,928	4,591,779	105,480,101
Household population	2,836,469	12,097,512	273,643,273
Average household size	2.67	2.63	2.59
Families	632,558	3,105,513	71,787,347
Average family size	3.5	3.23	3.14
Housing units	1,152,868	4,885,615	115,904,641
Occupied units	1,061,928	4,591,779	105,480,101
Vacant units	90,940	293,836	10,424,540

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