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 Saint Petersburg, FL

Latitude: 27.782254 -- Longitude: -82.667619

Other Area Cities: Saint Petersburg Largo Lealman Pinellas Park Saint Petersburg Beach Seminole Treasure Island

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St. Petersburg (often referred to by locals as St. Pete) is a city in Pinellas County, Florida. The city is known as a vacation destination for North American and European vacationers, as well as a politically important battleground in U.S. Presidential politics and the home of the highly regarded St. Petersburg Times. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 248,232. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 249,090 [1], making it the fourth largest city in the state of Florida. St. Petersburg is the second largest city in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, which is composed of roughly 2.6 million residents, making it the second largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state behind Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, and the third largest in the southeast. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Florida 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Saint Petersburg	Florida	United States
Population	248,232	15,982,378	281,421,906
Median age	39.3	38.7	35.3
Median age for Male	37.8	37.3	34
Median age for Female	40.6	40.1	36.5
Households	109,663	6,337,929	105,480,101
Household population	241,730	15,593,433	273,643,273
Average household size	2.2	2.46	2.59
Families	61,584	4,210,760	71,787,347
Average family size	2.88	2.98	3.14
Housing units	124,618	7,302,947	115,904,641
Occupied units	109,663	6,337,929	105,480,101
Vacant units	14,955	965,018	10,424,540

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