Exurbs hardest hit in recent housing slump

[jpak]

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/06/real_estate/exurbs_housing.reut/index.htm

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- While the U.S. housing downturn has depressed once-thriving real estate markets around the nation, far-flung suburbs of major cities have suffered the most abrupt market correction.

Home construction in these distant exurbs has slowed and prices and sales have fallen more than those of close-in suburban neighbors since a five-year U.S. housing boom ended in the summer of 2005.

Average home prices in Loudoun County, Virginia, 35 miles outside of Washington, D.C., fell roughly 11 percent in 2006, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. By contrast, Virginia's Arlington County, which hugs the nation's capital, saw a price decline of only about 2 percent.
Real estate: Who's buying now

"It's been hard for sellers to comprehend, and I'm usually the bearer of bad news," said Mike Wagner, a real estate broker who works in Loudoun. "The news is: Your home is worth $100,000 less than it was a year and a half ago."

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[phantom power]

1. I suppose Kunstler gets to say "I told you so"

[Virginia Dare]

2. Wait until gas prices hit $3 or $4 dollars per gallon or more...

those homes will be worth even less.