Plummeting Income Shaves Household Cash
By Frank Bass and Timothy R. Homan - Dec 7, 2011 10:00 PM MT
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-08/plummeting-income-from-investments-shaves-u-s-household-cash.html
Prices for existing U.S. homes fell over the decade in one of five U.S. counties, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Pitkin County, Colorado, homeowners were hardest hit. The median value of a home in the central Colorado county, home to the Aspen/Snowmass ski complex, fell $304,800, almost 10 times the decline in Oakland County, Michigan, the second-biggest loser.
The median sales price was $1.2 million for the 63 homes sold during the third quarter of 2010 in the Aspen area, said Ryan McMaken, chief economist for the Colorado Division of Housing. During the third quarter of 2011, 68 homes were sold with a median sales price of $637,000, he said.
“There aren’t a lot of fire sales, but there hasn’t been the sort of demand that existed prior to the financial crisis,” McMaken said. “It’s pretty clear there have been some declines.”