10 metros with greatest 5-year gain in real estate values

[UnFrSaKn]

....#3.

10 metros with greatest 5-year gain in real estate values

[Just the facts]

Interesting choice of pictures to represent each "metro" area.

[betts]

I think there are three factors: First, our real estate prices are very, very low, relative to most other cities. The economic downtown has not affected Oklahoma City quite as much as a lot of other cities. And, most cities' real estate prices were so much higher that the net effect of the downturn is that they've fallen. One of my children owns a house in Atlanta, where prices have fallen by about 40%. Luckily, if she buys in her current city, Chicago, the prices have fallen comparably, so even if she sells her house at a loss she is probably no worse off than if she sold when prices were high and bought again.

[Chautauqua]

Tulsa #4.

[betts]

I don't even pay attention to real estate values when buying the home in which I live. In a lower market, you can bargain more and it may take longer to sell your house and the reverse holds true in a boom market. However, since a lot of people consider their home an investment, the only time it really matters whether you've made or lost money is in the last house you ever sell. In a boom market, even if you make a lot of money on a house you sell, you're going to have to buy another house that is priced similarly high. In fact, if you're moving up, you may be worse off, as the price may be proportionately higher. In a bust market, you may sell your house at a loss, but as long as you're not under water with your loan and don't have the cash to pay it off, when you buy the next house, you're saving as much or (if you're moving up) more with your purchase. If it's the last sale of your life, then it may matter, but not otherwise. The only other time it's a problem is if you sell low and then the market takes off and you have to buy high.

I think the importance of the fact that our housing prices are rising is rather than it probably means average incomes in Oklahoma are rising. That too, is irrelevant, in terms of how much cash people actually have to spend on nonessential items, since as incomes rise, so do the prices of other expenditures such as housing, but it does help us get new retail businesses here. They are clearly using average income as criteria for determining new locations.

[MDot]

Tulsa #4.

It seems like Tulsa and Oklahoma City are always ranked somewhere near each other in rankings that they both are in.

[TulsaRobert]

It seems like Tulsa and Oklahoma City are always ranked somewhere near each other in rankings that they both are in.

Well for all of our differences (and there are quite few: political, culturally, and topographically), we are still geographically close and very similar.

[blangtang]

I'm on an REO list for a company that buys up bulk foreclosures from the big banks, has anyone seen how many foreclosures there are in OKC? Check the sheriff's page and there are so many being auctioned off all over the county its tough to scroll through the entire auction list.