As Always, Real Estate is Local.

I saw on the news a few days ago that real estate values in California have dropped by 28% this past year. Having moved to Maine from California about 7 years ago, I quickly calculated that this means someone who owns a $400,000 home there (which doesn't buy much in most of California) now owns a home worth $288,000 !

I compare this to Maine, where median home values went UP slightly in both July and August, and dropped DOWN in value slightly in September (overall, a 1.04% decrease over the previous year). The national median sales price had a decrease of 4.9% for September alone.

Further, Knox County, where I am located in mid-coast Maine, had a sales increase of units sold from July 1 to September 30 of 21.71% and an increase of median sales price of 8.33%, compared to statewide figures of -1.49% units sold and +1.56% increase of medain prices.

All of which just goes to support the proposition that real estate is indeed very local in nature, despite the doomsday blitz by the national media....