Where Home Values Are Rising

I talk with people all over the country who are moving to Portland. Those who are coming here from the midwest always tell me that they're shocked by how expensive real estate is here. Those moving from California inevitably rave about how "cheap" everything is here. It's all relative.

But the real estate "bubble" and the "boom and bust" that makes big media headlines isn't happening everywhere. There are some cities that have experienced steady growth and seem poised to continue to do so.

"Portland, Ore., Boise, Idaho, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Houston, Austin, and Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., are among the cities bucking the national trend. Homes' appreciation there between the fourth quarters of 2005 and 2006 far exceeded the national average of 5.9%."

"While some worry that a new group of cities could face a boom-and-bust cycle, local real-estate agents and economists predict stable growth for the near future. Since the cities have strong economies and builders, lenders and investors are increasingly cautious, homes are less likely to become extremely overvalued than in booming markets in the first half of the decade."

As a realtor in this article points out, real estate markets are locally driven. It doesn't really matter what happened in Miami if your property is in Seattle.

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