Declining for a decade: Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland and Las Vegas

These are troubled times indeed… particularly for four regional housing markets where prices have literally fallen off the charts!

Prices for homes in Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland and Las Vegas now sit at levels not seen in at least ten years.

Worse yet, the situation appears to be getting worse with 47% of Detroit homes “under water”, unemployment continuing to rise in Cleveland, Foreclosures hitting a new record in Atlanta and home sales on the decline in Las Vegas.

What is playing out for these markets may very well be a harbinger for what is to come for many markets around the nation.

While these hard hit markets are experiencing conditions that are currently more severe than most markets, the fundamental factors playing out are essentially endemic to the nation as a whole.

It’s important to recognize that less than twelve months ago only Detroit saw prices hitting a low for the decade.

Now, we have four, more or less, spatially separated regional markets down at decade lows and a few more (Chicago, Phoenix, Sacramento) in the pipeline.

See first chart above, rest here.

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