STATS

This from the Washington Times:

"Home prices dropped everywhere in the country except the South, while sales plunged to January 2004 levels last month, in news that triggered a drubbing in the stock market yesterday on worries that a housing free fall could drag down the economy.
Median home prices dropped 2.1 percent over July 2005 levels in the Northeast, 0.3 percent in the West and 0.6 percent in the Midwest, the National Association of Realtors reported, confirming fears that the most overheated housing markets on the East and West coasts are experiencing a rare decline where homeowners are at risk of losing some of the robust gains they enjoyed in their homes' value during the housing boom.
A hefty price gain of 3.2 percent in the South prevented the first overall decline in the national median house price since 1995. Most Southern markets outside Florida did not experience the doubling or tripling of values seen in the Northeast and West during the boom and are continuing to appreciate as buyers attracted by the comparatively low prices flock to the region.
Nationwide, the condominium market continued to lead the broader home sales market lower last month, with drops of 10.5 percent in sales and 1 percent in prices in the last year. Home sales overall are down by 11.2 percent from a year ago, the Realtors said."

Well, this is what we've posted before. Our region is the one everybody's coming to in order to get properties for a reasonable price! We didn't have the big run-up in home prices, so we're not getting hurt now.