Realty Reality

Even though I frequently take naps, I keep for ears for real estate news. Nationally, the news is grim about the real estate market. However, national trends are not necessarily local trends. While the Chicago-area market has definitely slowed things could definitely be worse:
Overall, national house prices dropped by 8.9 % in the last quarter of 2007 but the greatest drops were in the following areas:
#1 Miami -17.5%
#2 Las Vegas - 15.3%
#2 Phoenix - 15.3%
#4-#9 Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Detroit, and Washington D.C. all experienced double digit drops in price values.

There is a lot of talk about the increase of foreclosures. The following states have the highest level of foreclosures:
#1 Nevada
#2 California,
#3 Florida
#4 Arizona
#5 Colorado
#6 Massachusetts,
#7 Georgia
#8 Connecticut,
#9 Ohio
#10 Michigan.

So while things have slowed in the Chicago-area, it certainly could be worse.