And it is happening again.By the way tell your frined in New mIlford there are tons of house for sale in that town, with many available at asking prices well under 400k.

Oh, it comes from their name. Some deep analytical work going on there, not to mention the fabulous marketing with that catchy name.

Kernometer = Worst Real Estate Marketing Tool Ever

Ok, well, worst right after Zillow’s Make Me Sell.

Duh. In the South, it’s amazing watching whites flee an area, settle another area- then, after a few years (and a tipping point of minority families moving in)- move yet again. It’s really a nomadic existence. And, it’s completely supported by the lack of planning and the mindset that the next farm that gets turned into 500 McMansions and a WalMart supercenter will be Paradise Lost. Of course, it doesn’t help that these whites are moving because they believe that even being near people of color makes them 100% likely to become a victim of violent crime.

That’s also how you get suburban slums. They always seem to start right off the exit ramps of peripheral highways.

Closer to Housing Bottom, or Signal of a Deeper Trench?

The Case-Shiller house price index, our favorite of the various house price indexes, continues to show that house prices are falling very fast. … [Based on our own seasonal adjusting] the monthly reading for January indicates that house prices are falling at over a 20% annual rate. Further, the declines are still steepening as they were falling at just under 20% in November and December of last year. – Goldman Sachs Economics

There are two distinctly different ways of interpreting the [Case-Shiller] housing data. At face value, the worse the latest reading, the worse the economy will be in the near term. At the same time, one could also start from the assumption that there needs to be a certain price adjustment, and the faster we get it done, the sooner we can get back to normal. [But] As it stands, every month of drastic price drops will probably lead us (and most everyone else) to scale down the ultimate stopping point. … The current anecdotal evidence suggests that the period of steep home price declines likely extended beyond January into February and March, though it will be tough to get an accurate read on the true state of the housing market until we start to get spring data. – Stephen Stanley, RBS Greenwich Capital

Home price declines continued to intensify through January, according to both the Case-Shiller and OFHEO indices. Price declines show no signs of abating, even with prices already falling faster than at any time on record. Recent existing home sales data do suggest that a combination of falling prices and mortgage rates could begin to stabilize demand. But with inventories still high, prices certainly have farther to fall. – J.P. Morgan Economic Research

While there continues to be a wide dispersion in price movements across major centers, there are fewer and fewer major centers that are reporting yearly price gains – in the January report, only Charlotte reported year-over-year price gains. The decline in nationwide January home prices at an accelerated rate is a troubling reminder that conditions in the housing market continued to deteriorate in early 2008. Clearly the housing market will exert a severe drag on real output in the first half of 2008, and tighter credit conditions overall are expected to have a dampening effect on other big ticket purchases, such as automobiles and household appliances. — Brian Bethune, Global Insight

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index in January continued to show an accelerating rate of decline. The composite 20 city index fell by a record 23.2% in January measured on a 3-month annualized basis and by 10.7% measured on a y/y basis. … [T]he y/y rate of decline on a nationwide basis is now greater than seen at the end of the 1990-91 recession. With supply overhang enormous and mortgage financing tougher to obtain, home prices are going to decline considerably further in the quarters ahead, most likely to a double-digit pace on a y/y basis before not too long. – Joshua Shapiro, MFR Inc.

Yep, as anyone who has regularly travelled Northern Boulevard for the past 35 years can attest.

Thanks. I agree with your general point. That being said, if you say that an asset sold for $X is overvalued, and a couple of years later it sells for $2X, it doesn’t necessarily mean you were wrong in the first instance. It might mean you’re wrong, or it might mean that Fool Prime found Fool Subprime. It’s difficult to determine which is the case, however, so it isn’t a terribly constructive argument.

There’s been white flight from Queens for decades.

Queens Center mall is worth hundreds of millions today.

The fact that new malls haven’t been built in Queens helps explain why the value is still there.

“Location
Location
Location
Location Bergen County according to the Bergen Record has not been hit as hard as other areas of the state.
tom c”

Typical attitude of many in Bergen County.
I heard this same BS in the late 80′s – early 90′s.
It happens everywhere BUT in Bergen County.
Like I said… pure BS

Check out the $12,300,000 manor that sold today in Saddle River.

Buyer: Holly-wood, Cal-li-fornia
Weeeee-doggies!

There’s another term for that:

white flight