Dayton first in home value increases

From the Dayton Daily News:

While home prices across the U.S. fell slightly in 2011, the Dayton metro area bucked the trend, posting the largest increase in home values among 50 major metros, according to a leading property valuation firm.

Median home prices rose 11.5 percent in the Dayton area to $72,000 last year, California-based ClearCapital reported Monday.

This is good news for home sellers, of course, but it's also good news for home buyers because this indicates some stabilization returning to the area.  The story continues:

Dayton’s annual gain was led by a surge in home prices the past three months in which prices rebounded by 5 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.

That was also the best quarterly performance of any of the metros surveyed.

The market survey also showed a sharp decline in the number of bank-owned properties in the Dayton area — down 12.3 percent — which helped stabilize the market and likely contributed to the uptick in prices, researchers said.

Much of this is driven by investors, who are purchasing homes to either rent or flip, and it is not at all unusual to see multiple offers on the very best investment properties within days of the home hitting the market. It's kind of crazy, to be honest, and we haven't seen this type of buying activity in Dayton in years. As a side note, this is where a good auto-email system (like the one available at www.MyExitRealty.com) can help. By inputting your search criteria and email, our system will automatically send any and all homes that match your needs, as soon as the come on the market. Being prepared to purchase a home is key for that particular market.  More from the DDN:

Nationwide, prices fell 2.1 percent in 2011 and 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, but they remained at levels not seen since 2001, according to ClearCapital, which expects home prices to post a slight gain of 0.2 percent across all markets this year.

But the national trend will continue to show market-to-market variations, researchers said.

This is also true here in Dayton where market conditions can vary widely from neighborhood-to-neighborhood and sometimes even block-to-block. What is happening in Tipp City, is not the same as what is happening in Beavercreek, which is different from the market in Kettering, so always ask for a market analysis when you are looking for homes.

Teri Lussier is a Realtor with Exit Realty Central and is kinda smitten with Dayton and the possibilities for growth that are present in this area, especially in these unusual economic times.

Problems are only opportunities in work clothes. ~Henry J. Kaiser