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Sometimes it takes a cup of hot coffee to be dropped in your lap from the McDonald’s drive thru to remind us how insane reporting is and how they revel in fear, uncertainty, and doubt. The real estate world has been turned upside down over the past couple of years as the media pounds the drum first created by Chicken Little that the sky is falling.

But then the numbers are released by a group such as Standard and Poor. They also highlight the negatives to gain the attention of the media. However, inside their numbers are some amazing statistics. Since 2000 the 10 ten real estate markets have doubled in value. Los Angeles and Miami have both seen over a 240 percent improvement even with double digit declines from the past 12 months added in.

You do not see these numbers coming out of Katie Courics mouth on the evening news, do you? But the numbers do not lie. If we had markets that are facing declines from 2000 that would be news. Even lowly Detroit is still priced over their 2000 housing prices and that is a city that is being decimated as the auto industry collapses.

So when we start 2008, remember this:

Housing prices in most major cities are still showing long term gains even in the face of a difficult market.

All markets that have such huge appreciations have to retract or stabilize. That is basic economics. So remember to not get sucked into the negativity and present to your customers the benefits that have been accrued since 2000, not the negatives of 2007.  

Top 20 Metropolitan Areas Housing Price Changes

City            App from        Change
                2000            Oct 06-07

Atlanta         133.79          - 0.7%
Boston          169.34          - 3.6%
Charlotte       133.98          + 4.3%
Chicago         163.12          - 3.2%
Cleveland       115.93          - 4.5%
Dallas          124.44          - 0.1%
Denver          136.08          - 1.8%
Detroit         108.15          - 11.2%
Las Vegas       208.68          - 10.7%
Los Angeles     249.50          - 8.8%
Miami           244.35          - 12.4%
Minneapolis     161.24          - 5.5%
New York        205.48          - 4.1%
Phoenix         200.72          - 10.6%
Portland        185.10          + 1.9%
San Diego       217.02          - 11.1%
San Francisco   202.03          - 6.2%
Seattle         189.86          + 3.3%
Tampa           206.38          - 11.8%
Washington      226.71          - 7.0%

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