Area home prices fell 2.43% in 4th quarter

Toledo sits 270th among 302 in survey

3/5/2013

Metro Toledo home prices in the fourth quarter of 2012 fell 2.43 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to new federal housing data.

The decline in prices placed the Toledo area 270th out of 302 metro areas ranked in the latest survey of changes in house prices compiled by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Housing prices in metro Toledo also declined 0.45 percent from the third quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter. They are down 14.9 percent since the fourth quarter of 2007, the federal agency’s figures showed.

The rankings come from the FHFA’s seasonally adjusted purchase-only house price index, which tracks home sale prices using information from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages. The data include regular home sales plus distressed sales involving foreclosure, bank-owned, and short-sale properties.

Toledo’s showing was the worst of Ohio’s eight largest metro areas.

The seven other Ohio metro areas, their rankings, and the percentage of their housing price declines quarter-over-quarter were: Columbus, No 186, 0.29 percent; Youngstown, No. 207, 0.97; Dayton, No. 212, 1.03; Cincinnati, No. 213, 1.04; Akron, No. 232, 1.47; Canton, No. 243, 1.70, and Cleveland, No. 265, 2.18.

Other Ohio cities included in the rankings were Lima, No. 89, with a price increase of 1.37 percent, and Springfield, No. 154, with an increase of 0.25 percent.

In southeast Michigan, Detroit finished at No. 51 with an increase of 2.27 percent, Ann Arbor was No. 67 with an increase of 1.77 percent, and Monroe was No. 128 with a gain of 0.67 percent.

In an extended list of unranked metro areas, Sandusky had a decline of 2.49 percent and Mansfield a decline of 0.55 percent.

Statewide, Ohio was the 31st ranked state with an increase of 2.70 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. Ohio home prices declined 0.25 percent from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, and they decreased 9.15 percent since the fourth quarter of 2007. However, the federal index showed that housing prices in Ohio have increased 54.8 percent since the first quarter of 1991.

In Michigan, which was ranked 13th, home prices increased 7.71 percent in the fourth quarter, were up 1.07 percent since the third quarter, but were down 12.6 percent since the fourth quarter of 2007. Michigan home prices overall are up 53.5 percent since the first quarter of 1991.

Nationally, the metro area faring best was Bismarck, N.D., where housing prices climbed 13.41 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the agency report said.

Falling the most was Gainesville, Fla., which declined 6.78 percent from a year ago.

The federal agency said that overall, housing prices rose in the fourth quarter in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.