What's next for housing: A national wrap-up

The housing market across the country remains strong despite the specter of a real estate bubble.

Economists say it may take longer to sell your house, and you may not be able to ramp up prices as much as in the past few years. And there are signs that's happening in some metropolitan areas.

"It's not too late to get a good sale, but I think you're going to wait longer," said economist Mark Skousen, executive director of Investment U and a professor at Columbia University.

But in many metros, prices are still on their way up and sales are still chugging along. Even one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history seems likely to add fuel to the market, the National Association of Realtors said last week. The organization expects record sales this year sparked in part by rebuilding and relocations resulting from Hurricane Katrina, even as the storm drives up the cost of construction and housing prices and takes a bite out of the economy.

Nationwide, the NAR is expecting existing home sales to increase 3.4 percent to 7.02 million in 2005. New home sales are expected to rise 6.7 percent to 1.28 million. The national median home price is expected to rise to $205,100.

Of course, the housing market depends on location, location, location.

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book for September reports strong residential real estate growth, with softening in some markets, mainly in the Midwest.

That's what business journals across the country are seeing. Florida and the Southwest are red hot, though there have been some signs of a bubble in scorching South Florida. Southern cities outside Florida saw growth continue at a steady pace. California and the Northeast continue to set record prices, even as the time it takes to sell a house stretches in some markets. The Northwest is still a healthy place to sell a house. And in Hawaii, property is still both pricey and easy to sell. In the Midwest, things are stable mostly.

Valley of the sun shines on housing market; Denver improves
Phoenix was near the top of the nation for the first half of the year for annual increases in median existing home prices, the Phoenix Business Journal reports. And it's just the kind of market where increases are likely to continue, or at least hold steady, even if there is an overall downturn in the real estate market, local economists told the business journal. That's because Phoenix's population continues to grow.

"For example, population growth varies from state to state, with states in the Sunbelt attracting new residents from other states," said Lee McPheters, contributing editor to Arizona Blue Chip Magazine. "It is reasonable to expect faster-growing states such as Arizona and Nevada to continue to see stronger housing markets."

Or, as local expert Jay Brown said: "As a state, we're hot."

In Colorado, the market's getting stronger. A slump in the early 2000s is easing and realtors expect the market to appreciate by about 3 percent this year, the Denver Business Journal reports.

"I do think it's very safe to say we are seeing stronger home appreciation from last year," said Patty Silverstein, an economist and president of Development Research Partners, told the Denver Business Journal.

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