Central Illinois Market Boasts Some of America’s Most Affordable Prices
The Central Illinois housing market remains one of the most affordable regions in the country to buy a home, the Peoria Journal-Star reports.
According to Zillow.com, a Seattle-based online real estate service, the Peoria-Pekin metro area was listed as one of the top five least expensive housing markets in the United States, with a rating of $91,984 for the fourth quarter of 2006.
That figure represents a median home value based on all area homes - not just the ones sold over a particular period of time.
Only the Quad Cities region of Illinois and Iowa registered lower - coming in at $86,201 - in the company’s listing of 76 select U.S. markets.
The San Francisco Bay Area topped the list with a price of $684,459, with the Honolulu housing market ($626,452) and the metropolitan Los Angeles area ($545,409) close behind.
“Right now, two groups of cities are having problems - those that had the most price speculation and areas with weak employment,” according to Mike Larson, a specialist with Weiss Research Inc. in Jupiter, Fla.
States like California, Florida and Nevada, where the cost of housing has so risen dramatically in recent years, are seeing a significant decline in home mortgage demand “after driving home prices out of reach of the average person,” he said.
While there’s no shortage of affordable housing in Central Illinois, Larson said it’s fair for the media to characterize what’s happening in real estate in much of the country as “a housing bust.”
“Almost half (49 percent) of the nation’s top 149 metro areas showed declines in the cost of housing from 2005 to 2006,” he said.
While the Peoria area edged down slightly in the Zillow listing as Illinois mortgage demand waned in 2006, the depreciation was under one-fourth of one percent.
“In this area, I have to ask, ‘What housing bubble?’ Because of the strong local economy, low interest rates and solid job market, I didn’t believe it could burst here,” said Dallas Hancock, CEO of the Peoria Area Association of Realtors.
As for the rest of the nation, Larson foresees another weak year in 2007.
“There are close to a record number of homes on the market. With mortgage rates flat, we could see problems on the credit side of things,” he said.
“You’re now seeing a surge in foreclosures and delinquincies,” said Larson. “If you’re prospective home buyers, you definitely have the upper hand in many markets. The seller has to be more flexible.”
In some places - such as Florida - an overstocked housing market means “you can rent a home for half the monthly cost to buy,” he said.
SOURCE: Peoria Journal-Star