Friday, November 2, 2007

Real Estate is local!

Working with a lot of relocating clients, I am frequently asked "how's your real estate market in Lexington?" Of course, if every time we open the newspaper or log onto msn.com we get the bad, scary housing market news...you know, the bubble..., I don't blame people for asking.

I had the pleasure this morning to attend a speech by Dr. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, for our local board of Realtors. What a insightful talk! Dr. Yun gave a great reminder that when you look at market trends you have to look locally. Comparing what's happening in the California and Florida market trends is like looking at Miami's weather to figure out what's happening in Lexington. Data for our local market, shows there isn't a bubble. The number of transactions in our local market is down, but that fact has little impact on the consumer (only on the people who make an income off the transactions like real estate agents, lenders, closing attorneys...you get the picture). For the consumer, home values are still strong and real estate remains a great investment for almost every buyer.

Dr. Yun presented a lot of great data on our Lexington real estate market vs. national trends and some specific markets like Washington D.C. As soon as his powerpoint presentation is available I'll create a link to it for you.

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