Market Report Shows Positive Trend but Weak Market Conditions

""HomeValueForecast.com"":http://www.homevalueforecast.com/ (HVF) released a report on housing market trends, which highlighted two main findings: most Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) are in the weak or soft category, but the majority of CBSAs had more positive than negative market trends.

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_Source: www.HomeValueForecast.com_

The ranking was developed based on single family home markets in the top 200 CBSA. Market indicators include average active market time, average listing price, number of foreclosure sales, number of active listings, number of new listings, average sold price, and number of sales.

Most of the CBSAs had a higher net number of positive market indicators than negative. The market trend indicators are forward-looking, and so having more positive indicators forecasts improving conditions in a high percentage of the CBSAs, according to an explanation in the report.

""Fortunately, we are seeing an improving jobs picture, low interest rates and a slowing of distress sales on the market as a percentage of all sales,"" said Tom O'Grady, president and CEO of ""Pro Teck Valuation Services"":http://www.proteckservices.com/, which partnered with ""Collateral Analytics"":http://www.collateralanalytics.com/ to create HVF. ""Many markets remain weak but even within weak markets there are bright spots such as low inventories within lower priced segments.""

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Market conditions are ranked on a scale with 7 levels, starting with distressed at the bottom and hot at the top. No CBSAs were ranked in the hot category, with most in the weak and soft categories.

Midland, TX was ranked in the strong category, the next level below hot. The weak or soft ranking for most CBSAs is caused primarily by the high levels of properties in foreclosure or in REO status, according to the report.

The top CBSAs for February were:
# Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL
# Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL
# Port St. Lucie, FL
# Provo-Orem, UT
# Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI
# West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, FL
# Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA
# Canton-Massillon, OH
# Dayton, OH
# Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO

For the most part, the top ranked metros were either in Florida, where the price bubbled and crashed, with current prices close to where they were 10 years ago, or they are in markets that never became overpriced and did not experience a significant decline in value recently, according to the report.

The bottom CBSAs were:

# Eugene-Springfield, OR
# Huntsville, AL
# Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX
# New Haven-Milford, CT
# Norwich-New London, CT
# Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
# Jacksonville, NC
# Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL
# Spokane, WA
# Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT

HVF provides a look into the current and future state of the U.S. housing market.