WSJ: OKC Housing Recovery Leads US

[tomokc]

Home Prices Back at Peaks in Some Areas - WSJ.com

On page 1 of today's WSJ and at the link above (behind their paywall), they report that OKC leads the nation's housing recovery.

"Values are up more than 13% from their 2007 high in Oklahoma City and by more than 6% in the Denver metro area. Prices are back to all-time highs in 10 of the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of price data from Zillow, an online real-estate information service." Further into the story, "Nearly every ZIP Code in Oklahoma City's metro area is at a record high or within 5% of the previous high, according to the Journal analysis. A realtor representative said, "We had no bubble here, so there was really no reason for prices to drop."

In an accompanying graphic showing the OKC metro: "It mostly escaped the housing downturn, as population and job growth have fueled steady gains."

[Midtowner]

Phew... it's a good thing we don't have to worry about real estate bubbles anymore. Glad we reformed Wall Street to eliminate predatory loans and nasty things like credit default swaps.

[Garin]

The tornado had a lot to do with this, 2013 has been a false market.

[tomokc]

Canada largely missed the boom & bust because their government didn't advocate cheap loans as the means to make all citizens homeowners. The UK is trying to grow their economy that way now, and the real estate bubble looks frighteningly familiar. That's the lesson: Government intervention in an industry is perilous.

[soonerguru]

Canada largely missed the boom & bust because their government didn't advocate cheap loans as the means to make all citizens homeowners. The UK is trying to grow their economy that way now, and the real estate bubble looks frighteningly familiar. That's the lesson: Government intervention in an industry is perilous.

Ha ha. Name an industry in which the government has not intervened. I dare ya.

[OKVision4U]

Home Prices Back at Peaks in Some Areas - WSJ.com

On page 1 of today's WSJ and at the link above (behind their paywall), they report that OKC leads the nation's housing recovery.

"Values are up more than 13% from their 2007 high in Oklahoma City and by more than 6% in the Denver metro area. Prices are back to all-time highs in 10 of the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of price data from Zillow, an online real-estate information service." Further into the story, "Nearly every ZIP Code in Oklahoma City's metro area is at a record high or within 5% of the previous high, according to the Journal analysis. A realtor representative said, "We had no bubble here, so there was really no reason for prices to drop."

In an accompanying graphic showing the OKC metro: "It mostly escaped the housing downturn, as population and job growth have fueled steady gains."

...great news.

[Snowman]

The tornado had a lot to do with this, 2013 has been a false market.

For years the market in OKC has been vastly better than the country's average, plus the tornado destroyed less houses than the average number of people who move here each month.

[tomokc]

Explain how tornadoes increased housing values.

[Chadanth]

Explain how tornadoes increased housing values.

Supply and demand. Destroy a couple thousand houses, give people insurance checks and there will be a slight bump in sale prices for houses on the market.

[adaniel]

The real estate market here was doing quite well up to May, so its a stretch to say this is completely influenced by the storms. I do know housing in Cleveland County was completely out of whack this summer, according to family trying to buy in SWOKC. But by mid-September things had settled down.

Canada largely missed the boom & bust because their government didn't advocate cheap loans as the means to make all citizens homeowners. The UK is trying to grow their economy that way now, and the real estate bubble looks frighteningly familiar. That's the lesson: Government intervention in an industry is perilous.

FWIW this is absolutely not true. Canada is in the midst of a massive bubble that will burst anyday now. Most concerning is the large amount of household debt homes up there are carrying.

Canada?s housing market ?teeters precariously,? Financial Times warns - The Globe and Mail

This is not a big story in the US but it should definitely concern us. The only reason I know is I have friends in the film industry in Vancouver BC who are making plans to relocate to of all places Los Angeles because it is so much cheaper.

[tomokc]

Supply and demand. Destroy a couple thousand houses, give people insurance checks and there will be a slight bump in sale prices for houses on the market.

None of the other markets experiencing disasters (Colorado Springs & Jersey Shore immediately come to mind) experienced this type of value increase, nor did anyone cite tornadoes as being the cause of our increase. "...as population and job growth have fueled steady gains."

If this theory was true, then the value of Moore's remaining (surviving) housing stock would have experienced the highest increase in the state - it didn't.