Housing slowdown apparent locally, but nothing severe
Tulsa's housing market has been largely insulated from the effects of the national crash -- sales and construction haven't dropped the way they have across the country.
But will the national problems eventually drag down Tulsa?
Bernard Markstein, senior economist and director of forecasting at the National Association of Home Builders, said Tulsa may have already been affected.
"You've seen some slowdown because interest rates are a little higher and credit is a little tighter," he said.
Sales in the area -- 6,649 homes through June -- are nearly 200 fewer than during the first half of last year, and construction through June stands at 2,266 housing starts, well below the 2,598 for the same time in 2006.
Ron Sumner, president of the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors, said the drop isn't necessarily a sign of a weakening market since the number of homes being offered for sale has dropped as well.
"Our slight decrease in demand has been offset by a decrease in supply," he said.
Tulsa in middle of foreclosure list TulsaWorld.com 8/14/2007
The Tulsa area ranks No. 55 on a midyear list of foreclosures in the largest 100 metro areas.
The list, compiled by real estate tracking service RealtyTrac, indicated Tulsa had 2,712 foreclosure filings for the first half of 2007, or one foreclosure for every 143 homes.
Tulsa's performance was down 8 percent from the last six months and 12 percent from the first half of 2006.
Oklahoma City was 54th on the list, with 3,660 foreclosures or one for every 138 homes.
State foreclosure rate rises TulsaWorld.com 8/21/2007
Foreclosures in Oklahoma increased faster than the national average during July but remain well below last year's rate.
Approximately 899 mortgage foreclosures were filed in the state last month, or one for every 1,767 households, according to a monthly report by RealtyTrac, a real estate data service. The rate is up 17.67 percent from June but down 34.38 percent from July 2006.
Oklahoma's mortgage foreclosure rate now stands at 22nd in the nation, up from 29th in June.
Nationally, the foreclosure rate increased 9.08 percent from June was up 93.44 percent from July 2006. Last month's 179,599 filings represents one out of every 693 households.
In the report, Realty Trac CEO James Saccacio said
half of the nation's foreclosure filings came from just five states -- California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia.
Oklahoma was one of just seven states that experienced a year-over-year decrease in foreclosures, along with New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Edited by Rogerdodger, 26 August 2007 - 03:22 PM.