Pressures toward less expensive housing

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I keep waiting to read about what is happening to rental prices and availabilities in areas where there have been a lot of foreclosures. Anybody hearing anything locally?

What about lower priced housing? Have there been more people setting their sights on obtaining not the big house whose price has been driven down, but on the smaller, older house whose price has always been a bit lower? For example, is there any trend for distant suburbanites to look for houses in the nearer suburbs with older, smaller houses? (I should think fuel prices would contribute to a trend like that, too.) So are prices on smaller houses going down with the general market, or up with more people seeking them? Staying even?

I'm in a low end area, and zillow.com seems to think our homes are worth 10% less than 3 months ago, yet generally foreclosures are not seen to be huge in my metro area.

[jIM_Ohio]

My understanding is suburbs pricing is staying level. It is in high population areas (inner cities) where bubble is being seen.

[noppenbd]

I keep waiting to read about what is happening to rental prices and availabilities in areas where there have been a lot of foreclosures. Anybody hearing anything locally?

What about lower priced housing? Have there been more people setting their sights on obtaining not the big house whose price has been driven down, but on the smaller, older house whose price has always been a bit lower? For example, is there any trend for distant suburbanites to look for houses in the nearer suburbs with older, smaller houses? (I should think fuel prices would contribute to a trend like that, too.) So are prices on smaller houses going down with the general market, or up with more people seeking them? Staying even?

I'm in a low end area, and zillow.com seems to think our homes are worth 10% less than 3 months ago, yet generally foreclosures are not seen to be huge in my metro area.

This article talks about that issue:
Home Prices Drop Most in Areas with Long Commute : NPR

[disneysteve]

I keep waiting to read about what is happening to rental prices and availabilities in areas where there have been a lot of foreclosures.

Good Morning America did a story on that subject this morning.ABC News: Housing Crisis Hits Renters Hard

Rental prices are up sharply in many markets.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

MonkeyMama said in her blog that in San Francisco or Sacramento some renters are now checking on their landlord's credit reports. Talk about turning the tables!

[PauletteGoddard]

Reporting from my PNW outpost: rents here in the city are higher, as apartments had been converted to condos and the vacancy is reduced.
As I drove to my job interview, I saw pretty much the same # of properties for sale in the burbs as I did eight months ago, only there were more 'price reduced' signs.

My house value, in the city, has, according to Zillow, gone down 5% over the past six months; however OFHEO's house value calculator for my Metropolitan Statistical Area gives a value for my house for 2007-4th quarter that is $40K above Zillow's estimate for this quarter.

[Caoineag]

More houses have sank into my price range and rents are definitely going up. I like smaller older homes but I am not sure where you get the idea that the cheaper home maintained better value because its been the opposite here. If it was really expensive, it stayed expensive. If it was fairly reasonable, its gotten cheaper. Though I have noticed that even the more expensive homes are starting to get hit now but that is a more recent addition.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I didn't mean to suggest that cheaper older homes maintain better value. I meant that they may look more attractive now because their absolute price is lower. Previous homeowners who've lost their homes to foreclosure are probably going to have to move to something less expensive than what they had been living in.

Actually I would think there are price pressures both upward and downward on cheaper older homes like my own right now.