<p>Seattle East and in town up 10-15%. No inventory–bidding wars.
Central Virginia up 5% maybe. Still slow but never fell that much (-10% maybe).</p>
<p>Seattle is probably an ok investment- but if they keep talking about putting a toll on the “old” bridge, you might find some good deals on Mercer Island.</p>
<p>Zillow is accurate for the neighborhood houses that have sold, but it’s guesses for things that aren’t on the market can be wildly off the mark. </p>
<p>I don’t think you can get anything for under $200,000 here except condos or wrecks.</p>
<p>I just checked our home on Zillow and the price is very close to the appraisal we got when we recently refinanced. Do they have access to those records?</p>
<p>Contrary to DocT, what I am seeing in Connecticut is that appropriately priced housing in good condition is selling. The tired run down and overpriced stuff sits there. New housing is relatively strong.</p>
<p>I will grant that perhaps the tired, run down and overpriced stuff reflects the owners economic history – i.e. it’s tired rundown and overpriced because the owners can’t afford to lower their prices and can’t afford to fix it up either.</p>
<p>DocT has discussed the economic problems of the state as a backdrop for housing prices.</p>
<p>In June my bay area house sold for 5% more than it was appraised for in Feb of 2008. Talk on the street is that neighborhood is still going up.</p>
<p>Had my Charlotte realtor to dinner. His take, and the take of other Charlotte realtors I run into socially, is the market started turning up at the end of 2012. It could be a short term blip, or the beginning of recovery.</p>
<p>The Florida real estate market is still trying to recover. Banks still have tens of thousands of foreclosure homes in the pipeline. Buying residential real estate in Florida as an investment is extremely risky.</p>
<p>[Robert</a> Shiller Destroys The Idea Of Investing In A Home](<a href=“http://axiometrics.com/blog/index.php/robert-shiller-destroys-the-idea-of-investing-in-a-home/]Robert”>Market Analytics Platform for Multifamily | RealPage)</p>
<p>“Contrary to DocT, what I am seeing in Connecticut is that appropriately priced housing in good condition is selling. The tired run down and overpriced stuff sits there. New housing is relatively strong.”</p>
<p>What part of CT? and also what price compared to a year ago? There is always an appropriate price but that price is lower than last year. The median sale price in CT is down from a year ago and the state is dead last for job creation.</p>
<p>Zillow Home Value Index Y-o-Y
Connecticut $223,800 -1.5%
Rhode Island $200,500 -1.6%
Massachusetts $288,200 4.5%
New Hampshire $187,300 0.2%
New Jersey $259,700 0.7%
New York $238,200 0.7%</p>
<p>RE is so local state comparisons have little value. Even counties/cities vary substantially by location.</p>
<p>Prices vary from city to city, but CT is a physically small state and the price trends are pretty much the same throughout the state. I own 2 houses in CT and one in RI, all three are losing value - some faster than others however.</p>
<p>Well, DocT’s numbers for MA and NH seem accurate from my perspective of the two states.</p>
<p>Exactly - as I have many family members living in the Boston area - I know housing has improved markedly.</p>
<p>I know someone in Northern NJ (Western Bergen) who has lost 4 houses to bidding wars in the last 3 weeks…but no idea about prices…</p>
<p>Here’s the link to a recent article in the L.A. Times about housing prices in Southern California:</p>
<p>[Investors</a> fuel Southland housing gains as foreclosures plummet - latimes.com](<a href=“Investors fuel Southland housing gains as foreclosures plummet”>Investors fuel Southland housing gains as foreclosures plummet)</p>
<p>We bought a house in the northern suburbs of L.A. at the end of 2011 (after looking for almost four years) and I have noticed since that time that prices are slowly increasing while inventory is decreasing, resulting in the same kind of bidding wars that dominated the market here during the real estate bubble. The main difference now is that cash investors are winning most of those wars, leaving regular buyers in the dust.</p>
<p>I live in a small town dependent upon gold mining, so houses fluctuate with gold. My cousin bought her house when gold was at 300-400, and when the economy tanked and gold jumped, her house doubled in value very quickly.</p>
<p>Very interesting, raiders83. Housing prices can definitely be affected by the local economy.</p>
<p>Hoping that by the next time the economy is rolling I can have enough money saved to invest right before the economy crashes. :)</p>
<p>There are ususally 25 to 30 homes for sale where I live. Right now…there is 1. And it just went on the market recently.</p>
<p>A friend bought a condo for 350,000 two years go. A similar unit is sale pending for 500,000+. </p>
<p>Condos in another area that were 350,000 at the low were selling for 450,000 recently. None are for sale right now.</p>
<p>Inventory looks lower than during the bubble. It’s hard to to go below 0. :)</p>