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 Spartanburg, SC

Latitude: 34.946771 -- Longitude: -81.927603

Other Area Cities: Greenville Spartanburg Gaffney

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Spartanburg is the largest city and the county seat of Spartanburg County in South Carolina, and is the second-largest city of the three primary cities in the Upstate region of South Carolina. Spartanburg is located 98 miles (158 km) northwest of Columbia, 80 miles (130 km) west of Charlotte, and about 190 miles (300 km) northeast of Atlanta. Spartanburg's population was 39,673 at the 2000 census. However, as is typical with South Carolina cities, the urbanized area of the city is much larger at almost 150,000 (according to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau figures), due to the fact that it is difficult for cities to annex surrounding unincorporated land in South Carolina. It is the principal city of the Spartanburg Metropolitan Statistical Area (population 266,809) which is included in the greater Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson Combined Statistical Area (population 1,185,534 according to 2005 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau). -- Source: Wikipedia.com

South Carolina 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Spartanburg	South Carolina	United States
Population	39,673	4,012,012	281,421,906
Median age	34.7	35.4	35.3
Median age for Male	32.6	34	34
Median age for Female	36.3	36.7	36.5
Households	15,989	1,533,854	105,480,101
Household population	37,245	3,876,975	273,643,273
Average household size	2.33	2.53	2.59
Families	9,717	1,072,822	71,787,347
Average family size	3	3.02	3.14
Housing units	17,696	1,753,670	115,904,641
Occupied units	15,989	1,533,854	105,480,101
Vacant units	1,707	219,816	10,424,540

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