Hampton Roads housing market had a good decade

By Christopher Dinsmore
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 3, 2010

The housing market may be tepid now in Hampton Roads, but it's been a good decade.

Using data from the National Association of Realtors, the real estate news Web site HousingWatch.com ranked the 10 best and 10 worst housing markets of the decade, based on price appreciation through the third quarter of 2009.

For the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metro area, median housing prices rose 91.5 percent over the decade, from $112,300 in 2000 to $215,000 in 2009's third quarter.

That was good enough for No. 5 on the list behind the metro areas of Allentown, Pa; Baltimore, Trenton, N.J.; and Atlantic City, N.J. The Philadelphia area was sixth and the Washington, D.C., region, ninth.

The worst included Atlanta and Cleveland, but Saginaw and Lansing, Mich., bottomed the list with median values falling, respectively, 22.1 percent and 23.4 percent.

Remarkably, many of the strong housing markets lie in the metroplex corridor between Washington and New York City. Unsurprisingly, the weakest - with two exceptions - are in the industrial Midwest.

Still, the HousingWatch report opined, if you consider that mortgage interest rates are 6 to 7 percent, and inflation is 2 to 3 percent, it's been a "lost decade for even the strongest housing markets."

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what a bad joke

Submitted by annie on Mon, 01/04/2010 at 1:06 pm.

So, the median HRoads house price here has risen 91% over 10 years, and this is "good news"? LOL! This is the death knell for house prices in this area-- what it actually means is that house prices here will continue to decline for many years, simply to "unwind" the massive housing bubble that happened here. The fact that nationwide, this area was rated at Number Five on the 'biggest increase in house prices' list is terrible news-- not "good"!! What this statistic is saying is that Hampton Roads had the 5th biggest housing bubble in the entire nation.

The only people who profitted from this are those who sold at peak, and moved away, and the local city councils. Does anyone here stop to think that if house prices have gone up 91%, at the 5th fastest inflation in the nation, then your real estate taxes have also gone up by 91%?? The city councils are addicted to this extra money now-- you will continue to be overtaxed for years.