Home prices figured out the secret to time travel while no one was looking. The research firm ""John Burns Real Estate Consulting"":http://www.realestateconsulting.com/ (JBRE) says if you're looking to find a comparable point of reference for current median home prices, prepare to take a trip back in time.
[IMAGE]JBRE manager Gregory Tsujimoto evokes a time of days past to put the home price picture into perspective. He says for some markets, prices mirror a time when MySpace was the top website in the social networking realm â€" that's circa 2006.
A bevy of Texas markets fall into this group, including Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, with median prices ranging from $148,000 to $193,000. Baltimore, with a median of $235,000, and Indianapolis, at $121,874, also fall into their 2006 price brackets.
[COLUMN_BREAK]JBRE says when looking at various regions across the country, the ones that have slipped back by just five years “rank on the more positive end.â€Â
These markets have benefited from a strong employment base, lower distress levels, and a general absence of the abnormal boom-era appreciation rates experienced in many other parts of the county, the research firm explained.
For some especially regressive markets, Tsujimoto says it’s a flashback to 1997, standing in line to see the movie Titanic. Atlanta’s got a matinee ticket to the Oscar-winning film, with a median price of $107,768.
Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Oakland are markets where prices have turned back the clock more than a decade, according to JBRE's analysis.
Sin City’s median price is $125,000, comparable to 1998. Phoenix’s $120,000 median matches 1999. And with a median price of $315,000, Oakland’s revisited the year 2000.
The firm says elevated levels of distress, heavy employment losses, and large booms of sprawling development are common themes among markets that have lost the most ground.
Falling in between the two extremes of price deterioration, you’ll find Washington, D.C. (2004 at $311,104), Los Angeles (2003 at $335,000), and Fort Lauderdale (2002 at $150,000).