Look what is happening in El Paso Now

This is an article that was in the El Paso Times on Feb. 13, 2009


El Paso city bucks national trend
By Vic Kolenc / El Paso Times
Posted: 02/13/2009 12:00:00 AM MST


EL PASO -- Home prices continued to rise in El Paso last year -- something most areas of the country didn't see.

El Paso had the nation's sixth-highest gain in sales prices for existing homes in the fourth quarter among 153 metro areas, shows a National Association of Realtors report released Thursday. El Paso was one of only 18 metro areas in the country showing price gains in the October through December quarter.

"The reason (home) prices are growing more rapidly here than the nation as a whole is because the local economy is performing better at this point" than the national economy, said Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. "In 2009, the (El Paso) housing market should continue to do well, but there are a few more storm clouds on the El Paso economic horizon than in 2008."

The median, or market midpoint, price of existing El Paso homes was $140,700 in the fourth quarter -- an increase of $7,100, or 5.3 percent, from the same quarter in 2007.

For all of 2008, the El Paso median home price increased $6,000, or 4.5 percent, to an annual average median price of $137,900, the report shows. That increase is higher than the 3.4 percent increase for 2007.

Suzy Shewmaker Hicks, president of the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors and a Realtor for Keller Williams Realty, said even though El Paso's inventory of new and existing homes is large, homes continue to sell, and that helps prevent home prices from falling. More than 4,400 homes are now on the market.
"We're not immune to what has happened (in other markets), but we're not affected to the extent of other markets," Shewmaker Hicks said. "We've had fewer foreclosures here (than other markets) and that's keeping the market stronger."

El Paso has escaped the foreclosure storm felt in some markets. But foreclosure filings began increasing in the second half of 2008. And this January's 208 foreclosure filings were more than triple the 60 filings in January 2008, according to data released this week by RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks foreclosures nationwide.

Gary Wondrash, an El Pasoan who buys and sells homes as an investor, said, "El Paso is one of the strongest markets in the nation. We see some (out-of-town) investors coming back into our market that were here (about) three years ago when our prices were so cheap."

Charles de Wetter, president of Coldwell Banker de Wetter Hovious, one of El Paso's largest real estate companies, said home prices could be hurt if the inventory of homes begins to increase again.

Fullerton, at UTEP, said median home prices "will probably grow by more than 3 percent in 2009. It will be surprising if it grows as rapidly as it did in the fourth quarter."

Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com;546-6421.

For more information: www.realtor.org.



Top markets
Only 18 U.S. metro areas showed home price gains in the fourth quarter of 2008. Here are the top 10 price gainers, with median home price, and percentage change from a year ago:
Rank, Median Percentage
metro area home price change
1. Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas $132,600 up 16.7 percent
2. Bloomington, Ill. $159,300 up 9.6 percent
3. Dover, Del. $212,500 up 6.5 percent
4. Bismarck, N.D. $164,300 up 6.0 percent
5. Decatur, Ill. $79,300 up 5.9 percent
6. El Paso $140,700 up 5.3 percent
7. Jackson, Miss. $126,600 up 4.7 percent
8. Wichita, Kan. $118,200 up 3.9 percent
9. Shreveport-Bossier City, La. $139,200 up 2.8 percent
10. Amarillo, Texas $122,600 up 2.0 percent
Source: National Association of Realtors