Welcome to the Real Estate Bubble Map wiki!
Like the interactive map above and a twin map of Past Housing Price Corrections, the goal of this experimental wiki is to protect homebuyers from overpaying in overvalued housing markets across the United States. Citizen journalists, particularly homebuyers turned embedded real estate reporters and buyer agents, are invited to add newspaper articles, favorite blog posts, and most importantly examples of falling prices to document what is really going on behind misleading housing statistics, like median sales prices, in housing markets nationwide (see partial list of cities in sidebar).
The wiki is meant to work with interactive maps, not replace them. Where possible, location-specific information (like homes selling for below assessed value, foreclosed properties, etc.) should be placed directly on an existing local map or a new map you create. Other information, like housing trends, price projections, monthly sales satistics, or quarterly research should be added to a general page or specific city on this wiki.
| Why are we doing this? Because, as a recent headline read,
HOUSING BUBBLE CORRECTION COULD BE SEVERE
U.S. News & World Report (6/13/06)
"In the first quarter of 2006, home prices nationwide rose an additional 7.3 percent, according to a joint study by the financial services firm National City Corp. and the research firm Global Insight. As a result, there are now 71 metropolitan areas–representing nearly 40 percent of all single-family homes–that can be classified as "extremely overvalued," according to the study. By comparison, only 64 metro regions were considered frothy at the end of last year and only 1 percent were classified as such in the first quarter of 2004."
"The fact that this number of metro areas – representing such a large percent of the total single family market–is extremely overvalued should be a cause for concern," said Richard DeKaser, chief economist for National City.
The bottom line: Real estate prices eventually correct themselves. And unfortunately for homeowners, it often takes years before home prices start to rise again, especially after a big run up.
National City recently studied 66 major metro regions over the past 21 years that suffered through a 10 percent or greater decline in prices for at least a two-year period of time. It found that home prices, once they begin to correct, tend to decline 17 percent on average before markets heal themselves.
"And the average duration of these adjustments is 3.5 years," says DeKaser. |
- What else can we, acting as an informal national grassroots network, do to help inform and protect homebuyers?
- What kind of information or resources would you like to see linked to your city?
- If you are a bubble blogger, or know one you'd recommend in your local housing market, please add it to the appropriate city.
- If you don't see your city listed, or want to add geographic subsections WITHIN a city, please list them on the city's main page.
Please submit your ideas to the Real Estate Bubble Map brainstorming page.
If you are new to wikis, take a few minutes now or later to visit these links to get an introduction to this powerful new tool for online collaboration:
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