Pittsburgh Homes Daily

Predicting where the housing market is headed reminds me of choose your own adventure.  Which story and statistics would you like today? 

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article today says that the housing slump is headed here but it won’t hurt much.  They interviewed National City Corps. chief economist, who essentially says that Pittsburgh is likely to experience some effects from the housing slump even though the effects may not be as bad as in states that have had bigger runups.

Earlier this month, there was an article in the Christian Science Monitor (and I think elsewhere) that paints a different view.  It says that the real estate slump has been tough on the Midwest because prices were declining and there hadn’t been a real runup to begin with.  While I think Pittsburgh is generally considered the Northeast rather than the Midwest, it’s economy and geography are a lot closer to the Midwest than the Northeast.

Throw into the mix some statistics from the ground that the average sales price in Pittsburgh for the first 9 months of the year was up $5,000 (over two percent) from the first 9 months of last year.  Stir in Pittsburgh’s spot as #1 on the PMI list of the 10 safest housing markets (courtesy of the Real Estate Bloggers).

Then check out the news stories whose titles have changed, from asking when the bubble will burst to asking when the market will recover.  There’s also a few that are praising the oppurtunity of a buyers market.

What does all of this mean for Pittsburgh?  Sounds like a healthy market to me.  But there’s enough data out there now that you should feel free to choose your own adventure.