What you may not have seen through the clouds of doom and gloom are existing pockets of recovery where
homes are selling and prices are rising.
Business news website Forbes.com, known for its lists about the rich and
famous, recently tapped Zillow.com to turn the radar on housing markets
with something to crow about.
"Those regions where the local job market has been less dependent on housing
and construction as an engine for growth have weathered the recession far
better because they have maintained a healthier balance in the supply of
available homes for sale and the number of potential home buyers," said
Nancy Osborne, chief operating officer of Erate.com, a Santa Clara, CA-based financial information
publisher and interest rate tracker.
Zillow found cities in major metro areas where home values had
appreciated for three consecutive quarters or more, had a healthy rate of
home sales and foreclosure rates were lower than the greater metro area.
Zillow.com looked at the largest metro areas to identify the most stable
housing markets. It focused on identifying a city in each metro where home
values had appreciated for at least three straight quarters, the rate of
home sales was healthy and foreclosure rates were lower than the metro
area.
Prices aren't skyrocketing, homes aren't quite selling like hotcakes, but
stability is setting in.
One in five of the towns are scattered throughout the Golden State of California and others are largely towns on or near the
East Coast and in the Midwest regions.
Here's a look at the top 10.
Bethel Park, PA - Homes here are worth 40 percent more than in the
greater Pittsburg metro area and they sell for a median price of $155,100.
Prices are up this year 1.2 percent. The annualized percentage of homes sold
was 3.1 percent.
Bloomfield Township, MI - Homes in this affluent Detroit suburb,
with a median value of $252,900, are worth three times more the metro area
and have risen in value 2.3 percent. The annualized percentage of homes sold
was 5.1 percent.
Brookline, MA - Host town for three U.S. Opens, Brookline has seen
zero foreclosures in the past month. The Boston area town has a median home
value of $489,500, up 2.2 percent this year, and a 6 percent annualized
percentage of homes sold.
Chino Hills, CA - The median value of homes in this Riverside
community came in at $464,600, up 2.1 percent this year. The annualized
percentage of home sales was 4.7 percent. Elsewhere in the metro prices rose
only 0.6 percent and home prices average $193,300.
Coral Springs, FL - In Miami's otherwise crumbled market, Coral
Springs' home values are firm, up 2.8 percent this year to a median
$213,800. The annualized percentage of homes sold was 7 percent. High
foreclosure rates have pushed home values down elsewhere in the area by 4.5
percent.
Cranston, RI - At the top of the list for home price gains this
Providence area town's homes rose in value 3.4 percent to a median of
$181,200. The annualized percentage of homes sold was 3.4 percent.
Crofton, MD - Home values are 65 percent higher in the tiny
Crofton planned community than they are elsewhere in the Baltimore area.
Median value was $381,400, up 1.2 percent this year. The annualized
percentage of homes sold was 3.9 percent.
Cupertino, CA - Silicon Valley headquarters of
computer giant Apple, Cupertino's median home value was more than $1 million
and up 2.3 percent this year. The San Jose metro area towns annualized
percentage of homes sold was 6.5 percent.
Edina, MN - Up 2 percent this year, the median home value was
$325,900 in this Minneapolis area town and the annualized percentage of
homes sold, 4.3 percent.
Gaithersburg, MD With an annualized percentage of homes sold at
5.8 percent, demand has pushed values up 1.3 percent this year to a median
home value of $305,900 in this Washington, D.C. area burg.
The rest?
• Grapevine, TX (Dallas metro)
• La Grange Park, IL (Chicago metro)
• Lafayette, CA (San Francisco metro)
• Lemon Grove, CA (San Diego metro)
• Maitland, FL (Orlando metro)
• Manhattan Beach, CA (Los Angeles metro)
• New Brunswick, NJ (New York City metro)
• Sandy Springs, GA (Atlanta metro)
• Warminster, PA (Philadelphia metro)
• Westlake, OH (Cleveland metro)
Follow the link to continue reading the related articles
