The Wall Street Journal’s Morning Newsletter had an interesting article the other day about those states that have the strongest housing markets. While the market for housing is showing some signs of recovery, it’s been a very slow one according to data from those firms that follow such things. The best improvement was concentrated in just a few states. These are states where the median in home prices went up by more than 5% between July 2011 and July 2012.
Here is the top 10.
Montana
This state showed a median price change of +5.6% as it never did suffer from high employment and its jobless rate has been very low. Plus, the cost of living in Montana is still relatively low in comparison with the national average and so are home prices.
Hawaii
Hawaii has the highest median home price of any of the 50 states by a very wide margin. This is true even after the price of homes fell 20.4% between 2007’s peak in the housing market through the first quarter of 2012. It is predicted that home prices in Hawaii will rise 3.2% between this year’s first quarter and the first quarter of next year.
South Carolina
This state showed fairly high unemployment during the recession and it remains at 8. 3% or above the national average. Despite this, South Carolina’s one-year home price change was + 6.3%.
Florida
The home prices in Florida were savaged as a result of the housing market bust. In fact, its prices dropped 48.4% from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2012. However, home prices are expected to be better long–term as it is projected to increase at an annualized basis of 4.2% between now and the first quarter of 2017.
North Dakota
This is another of the Midwest states that never had big home price declines or severe unemployment. Between 2007 and 2010 home prices actually rose 17%, which was the best in the nation. Home prices in North Dakota are forecast to rise 2.8% from the first quarter of 2013 in the first quarter of 2014.
Colorado
Colorado’s median home price is $240,000. Its home prices dropped 9.5% from the first of 2007 to the first quarter of 2012. Its home prices are predicted to recover at 3.7% between the first quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013. Its one-year home price change was +7.3%.
South Dakota
This state has shown a one-year change of +8.3% in home prices, making it 44th among all states. In fact, these prices barely changed when the housing market disintegrated. South Dakota’s home prices are predicted to raise 4.6% from the first-quarter 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, placing it 15th among all states.
Utah
Utah’s one-year price change in the media price of houses was +9.3%. The state was hit very hard during the period of 2007 to 2011. However, the recovery in home prices is expected to be fairly strong during the next few years. They are projected to rise 5.8% the first quarter of next year to the first quarter of 2014.
Idaho
Unlike the states to the east of it, Idaho did have a severe unemployment problem that caused home prices to drop 29.6% from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2012. However, home prices are expected to rise 8.8%–the best in the nation–between the first quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2014.
Arizona
Arizona’s real estate market was hit just about as badly as any state in the collapse of the housing market. However, its one-year home price change was +16.6% making it number one in home price improvement from July of last year to July of 2012. Arizona continues to have the second highest foreclosure rate in the nation, which could explain why it’s housing prices are expected to increase only about 1.4% from the first quarter of next year to the first quarter of 2014.
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