Real Estate is not a national market. its a local one. however markets that are close by have some effect on each other.
historically whenever California gets too expensive, people flock to neighboring states like Utah, NV, AZ. However this time, NV and AZ are already too expensive. So my bet is that Utah will see significant inward migration over the next few years.
Because of the current inverse yield curve, it looks like we're heading for a recession which leads me to believe that interest rates may not increase much from todays levels. However interest rates do not determine the direction of a trend. They only help or hinder one.
89% of all new loans in San Diego were had an adjustable interest in 2005. Even if rates do not increase much, a 1% increase could mean a 15-25% jump in mortgage payments to the average homeowner. add the principal payments ammortized over 27 or 25 years instead of 30 and they'll probably be stretched over the limit. Since most people got in with 100% financing they will have no equity in their homes if prices drop 10-20%.
On top of that the 100% financing loans are becoming more and more difficult to qualify for and will probably go away in 12 months. This will make it more difficult for people to qualify for homes and the pool of buyers will drop.
San Diego is already at 11% affordability so we're past the peak pricing phase in the cycle.
DOM has increased significantly as has inventory. Condos in my area have already dropped 15% from december 2004 which was the peak.
I expect prices to drop 30-45% locally depending on the area. Condo conversions will be the hardest hit, as will luxury homes.
i know of a couple who are school teachers will a combined annual income of 110k who just bought a 1.1million house. Instead of trading up their old home, they pulled out equity and rent it out for a slight negative cashflow.
When prices drop, not only will they lose the equity in the home, but also in their rental property. Any bets which house will go into foreclosure first?
There are a number of homeowners who believe that prices will continue to appreciate 20-30% forever. "This time its different" they all say.
I sold all my California properties by summer 2005 and I started buying SFHs in the end of 2004 in Salt Lake City. Prices were stagnant in SLC from 1999 to 2004. In 2005 they jumped around 12-15%. I've seen a 20% jump in my homes and I'm currently buying more. They're currently break-even with 100% 5/1 ARMS because i'm doing lease-to-own instead of pure rentals.
I expect SLC to continue to grow in population and home prices for the next 3 years. At that point i'll probably start to sell them off and start moving my money back into CA. CA will be very badly hit this time around. the low interest rates let the prices inflate over what they probably would have if rates were at 6% instead of 4%.
if anyone wants more info, email me at
niravmd@gmail.com.
good luck and happy investing.