Overpriced Bay Area Real Estate Sees a 25% Gain in House Prices Thanks to Tax Credits
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
Anyone remember "whatever it takes"? Whatever it takes, even if it means keeping real estate at artificially high values just to stave off deflation, I guess.
If you guys wonder why I am so desperate to get out of this third world toilet I have called home for the last 11 years, look no further than the following. I hope every idiot who got stuck in a new home just for the $8000 tax break (no offense, WCV) enjoys the financial [violation] to come that is amortized over the next 30 years as still-broke municipalities scramble to pay their bills using property taxes as ATMs. Good luck with that, hope it was worth it!
The Bay Area’s two biggest metro areas had two of the nation’s three biggest housing price gains in the second quarter, the National Association of Realtors reported today.
The median house price in the beautiful San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area jumped 26 percent year over year to $630,000. In the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area, the median price climbed 25 percent to $591,200. (Only Akron, Ohio, oddly enough, had a bigger gain, at 36 percent.)
Of course, prices in both the San Jose and San Francisco metro areas are still down sharply from the peak of the market. In 2007, for example, the median house price was $836,800 in the San Jose area (Santa Clara and San Benito counties) and $804,800 in the San Francisco area (which includes San Francisco, its relatively expensive suburbs in Marin and San Mateo counties, and more affordable — at least by Bay Area standards — communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties).
Yes, you read that correctly. Read it again just to be sure.
The funny part is we were actually beat out by Akron, Ohio (of all God-forsaken places) as far as percent increases are concerned, though their median $119,700 looks pathetic next to our $591,000. $591,000? Man, what a steal!
Here are other winners and losers from around the country:
BIGGEST INCREASES
1) Akron, Ohio, $119,700 median price, up 36 percent
2) San Jose, $630,000, up 26 percent
3) San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, $591,000, up 25 percent
4) Riverside, $190,200, up 18 percent
5) Elmira, N.Y., $99,200, up 17 percent
6) Lansing, Mich., $99,100, up 13 percent
7) San Diego, $392,600, up 13 percent
8 ) Palm Bay, Fla., $117,300, up 13 percent
9) Erie, Pa., $110,200, up 13 percent
10) Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., $94,1000, up 12 percent
BIGGEST DROPS
1) Cumberland, Md., $104,500, down 15 percent.
2) Tucson, Ariz., $150,200, down 14 percent
3) Ocala, Fla., $95,900, down 13 percent
4) Beaumont, Texas., $120,700, down 13 percent
5) Boise City, Idaho., $140,100, down 13 percent
6) Hagerstown, Md., $149,800, down 9.2 percent
7) Jacksonville, Fla., $139,000, down 9 percent
8 ) Daytona Beach, Fla., $117,000, down 8 percent
9) Salem, Ore., $176,800, down 7.5 percent
10) Biloxi, Miss., $128,500, down 7.4 percent
Meh.
