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 Knoxville, TN

Latitude: 35.972882 -- Longitude: -83.942161

Other Area Cities: Oak Ridge Knoxville Alcoa Farragut Powells Crossroads Maryville Clinton

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Knoxville is the third-largest city in the state of Tennessee behind Memphis and Nashville and is the county seat location of Knox County, Tennessee. It is the principal city of and is included in the "Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area." Of all of Tennessee's four major cities, Knoxville is the oldest. Knoxville was once also known as the Underwear Capital of the World.Knoxville hosted the 1982 World's Fair, from which the Sunsphere remains. Knoxville is also the home of the University of Tennessee's primary campus (UTK). The university's sports teams, called the "Volunteers" or "Vols," are extremely popular in the surrounding area.Knoxville is also the home of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Knoxville's economy is largely fuelled by the regional location of the main campus of the University of Tennessee, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Transportation Research Center, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Tennessee 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Knoxville	Tennessee	United States
Population	173,890	5,689,283	281,421,906
Median age	33.4	35.9	35.3
Median age for Male	31.3	34.5	34
Median age for Female	35.6	37.2	36.5
Households	76,650	2,232,905	105,480,101
Household population	162,856	5,541,337	273,643,273
Average household size	2.12	2.48	2.59
Families	40,193	1,547,835	71,787,347
Average family size	2.84	2.99	3.14
Housing units	84,981	2,439,443	115,904,641
Occupied units	76,650	2,232,905	105,480,101
Vacant units	8,331	206,538	10,424,540

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