From CNN:
Hot home markets to cool down…how will your home fare?
If you’ve recently gambled that Las Vegas housing prices would continue to rise this year, you may be on the losing side of the bet.
According to the latest housing price forecasts from Fiserv Lending Solutions, a provider of mortgage and consumer lending services, Las Vegas real estate will tumble a whopping 8.2 percent in 2006, the largest predicted fall among the 379 metro areas studied.
Fiserv forecasts a significant stagnation in housing prices for the United States in 2006 — median home prices overall will inch up only 1.5 percent this year. And many metro areas will experience drops, including some of the largest, and most expensive, ones such as New York (down 2.43 percent), Los Angeles (down 3 percent) and Washington (down 1.9 percent).
Metro Area / Forecast (% Reduction)
New York-Wayne-White Plains, NY-NJ -2.3%
Newark-Union, NJ-PA -0.6%
Ocean City, NJ -2.2%
Trenton-Ewing, NJ -0.5%
Edison, NJ -1.6%
Atlantic City, NJ -2.0%
Nassau-Suffolk, NY -4.5%
Caveat Emptor,
Grim
Considering most of these areas were up 15 to 50% in one year, the predicted downturn is peanuts. I think it will be much more in areas that have the higher percentage of ‘Exotic” loans.