State-of-the-Market in New Bern, NC

While I'm reading and researching the "State-of-the-Market" around the country (as it relates to real estate news), there are numerous statistics which give us a better perspective as to what's really happening and where.

According to Reuters and RealtyTrac, the following states have the highest foreclosure rates:

Nevada = 1 in every 43 households.

California = 1 in every 65 households.

Arizona = 1 in every 70 households.

Florida = 1 in every 78 households.

National average = 1 in every 600 households.

North Carolina = 1 in every 1000 households.

Foreclosures add inventory to the market, and increased inventory encourages price reductions, since it's the old "Supply and Demand" theory.

While North Carolina has also experienced an increase in foreclosures over 2007, we're fortunate that our statistics still remain well below the national average.

In fact, in the New Bern area (coastal NC), while we've experienced a 30% decrease in the number of home sales over the prior year, we still have maintained an appreciation rate of +.01%, which is much better than the US average of -6.8%.

View all homes for sale from the New Bern MLS service.

Parachuting Home Prices

After returning from a pleasant 6-day vacation on Ocracoke Island, NC (the southern-most island of the Outer Banks), I started perusing the real estate email-newsletters that I receive on a regular basis to see what's new over the last week.

While the distressed real estate market and the increased number of bank foreclosures seem to have taken over our local news over the past year, not all areas have been hit equally.

An analysist from PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. said that PMI projects a 40 percent or greater chance that prices will fall in 16 of the 50 largest areas during the next two years. All but three of those markets -- Las Vegas, Phoenix and Providence, R.I. -- are in California and Florida. They also said that the primary driver of the rise in risk scores was a continued increase in foreclosure rates, noting that California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada together represented 84 percent of the increase in foreclosures on homes with prime adjustable-rate mortgages during the first quarter of 2008. (Source: Inman News)

Fortunately for our real estate market here in Eastern North Carolina, while prices have not increased since the top of our market in mid 2006, we have only seen a slight depreciation rate on average, since that time.

To preview ALL properties on the market for sale in the New Bern area, just click on my website: http://www.newbernhomes.com/. We offer a tremendous amount of information to you for Free, and you can also sign up to receive notification about new property listings, as they come on the market!