(If you are a home owner!!)
Area homes predicted to appreciate 4% in '07
Stable, balanced market to keep Dallas housing affordable, report says
11:00 PM CST on Tuesday, December 19, 2006
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
If you're hoping that Dallas-Fort Worth houses will become more affordable next year, a new forecast may be disappointing.
The D-FW area is expected to see a 4 percent gain in home prices in 2007, according to the latest housing outlook by Fiserv Lending Solutions.
While the nation as a whole will see flat home prices in 2007 -- with many cities seeing double-digit falls -- prices in Texas cities, including Dallas and Fort Worth, will appreciate, the firm predicts.
WHERE ARE HOME PRICES HEADED?
It depends on where you live. Here are 20 sample cities from a forecast of home prices for 2007.
City Change
Atlanta +2.5%
Austin +3%
Boston -1.8%
Brownsville +8.3%
Chicago +2.3%
Dallas-Fort Worth +4%
Denver -1.2%
Detroit 0%
Houston +3.3%
Kansas City +2%
Las Vegas -9.2%
Los Angeles -7.1%
Miami -9.2%
New Orleans +0.7%
New York -4.2%
Orlando -4.7%
Philadelphia -1%
Phoenix -6%
San Antonio +3.9%
Washington, D.C. -4.7%
U.S. average +0.1%
SOURCE: Fiserv Lending Solutions
Analysts with the Wisconsin-based mortgage data processing firm have been successfully forecasting home-price changes for more than a decade.
"Dallas has had a very stable -- with respect to price appreciation -- and balanced market," Fiserv chief economist David Stiff said Tuesday.
"No large runup in prices, so housing remains quite af! fordable .."
Fiserv estimates that since 2001, Dallas-area home prices have risen about 17 percent, compared with more than 53 percent nationwide.
"This insulates the Dallas market from price declines," Mr. Stiff said.
"Similar stories can be told for other Texas markets."
Many potential homebuyers in North Texas are on the sidelines waiting for prices to fall, Realtors have said.
This survey indicates that their wait may be in vain.
Indeed, Brownsville is forecast to have an 8.3 percent price gain next year -- one of the largest in the country. Prices are forecast to rise 3.3 percent in Houston and 3 percent in Austin.
"Texas markets are expected to do much better than the national market in 2007 for the first time in several years," said James Gaines, an economist with the Texas A&M University Real Estate Center.
"We expect appreciation rates across the board in the state to be at least 5 percent to 6 percent or even better."
Mr. Gaines said the only thing that could derail home-price growth is overbuilding.
"But this will probably affect smaller areas -- particular developments or subdivisions -- rather than the whole metropolitan area or county," he said.
Regions that have seen the biggest gains in home prices will give up value in 2007, Mr. Gaines said.
The largest declines in home prices are forecast in California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and parts of the Northeast.
Merced, Calif., for instance, is forecast to suffer more than a 10 percent drop in prices next year.
Fiserv anticipates that prices will fall more than 9 percent in Las Vegas and Miami and 6 percent in Phoenix.
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Merry Christmas to all!!!!
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