Libubble

Economist: Pa. Housing Market To Decline
http://kdka.com/local/housing.Pennsylvania.economy.2.728303.html

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ? The worst of Pennsylvania's housing woes may be yet to come.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that economists at the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg are forecasting that housing prices across the state will drop in the next few months.

They say a drop in home prices and rising unemployment in the state raises the risk of more mortgage and foreclosure problems.

The Freddie Mac index for Pennsylvania showed the first actual decline in housing prices over a 12-month period since 1995.

Home sales in Pittsburgh region see sharp decline
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/04/14/dai…

Home sales in the first quarter showed the steepest decline in more than a decade.

First quarter sales in the five-county Pittsburgh region were down 11.4 percent compared to the first quarter of last year, according to a recent report from South Side-based RealSTATs, a real estate information company.

This was the steepest decline since the second quarter of 1995 when sales dipped 12.4 percent, compared to the second quarter of 1994.

The first quarter of the year was the fourth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year decline and the third steepest drop since 1988.

In historical perspective, Pittsburgh's housing rut in the mid-1990s lasted for five consecutive quarters from July 1994 to September 1995.

"It's official, the metropolitan Pittsburgh real estate market is in recession," Dan Murrer, vice president of RealSTATs, said in a statement.

Yet median home price in the region continued to increase with a 8.9 percent jump from the first quarter of 2007 to $110,000. - Sat Jun 7 2008, 12:20