Headlines are misleading on the East Side of Providence

The Providence Journal today states that RI housing prices have dropped to a 5-year low.

The article goes on to say that Moody's predicts that "house prices will hit bottom in mid-2010....and then begin to rise.  Given that measure they say, "prices will have fallen more than 22% off their 2005 peak". 

I don't know about you, but that would scare the pants off me! I began to think of my sellers who are planning to sell in spring, here on the East Side and thought maybe they should wait a few years if they can.......

Then I read on from the Front page to the continuation of the article on page 9.

What I found was this - for the East Side, during the 3rd quarter, median prices for single family houses actually INCREASED. 

So what's happening here?

The overall median sales prices in the State have been strongly influenced by the amount of foreclosures which according to the article accounted for "one in four" sales during the 3rd quarter of this year.  The rate of foreclosures on the East Side has been far far far less than the rest of Providence.  Those distressed sale numbers drove down the median sales prices in the State. 

Other areas that saw increases in the median price of a single family home in addition to the East Side, were Barrington, Warren, Exeter, Charlestown and Narragansett.

All real estate is local, VERY local. 

That's why it helps to read the whole article, not just the headline.

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