Interesting map of housing price patterns (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: home, wages, living)

[BrianTH]

Here is a little blog post on a study of recent housing price patterns, which divided the different U.S. markets into four categories:

Boom/Bust
No-Boom/Bust
Boom/No-Bust
No-Boom/No-Bust

Here is an associated map:



Not surprisingly, Pittsburgh is in the No-Boom/No-Bust category.

I also think it is interesting to note we are right between a big patch of No-Boom/Bust (the economically distressed parts of Michigan and northern Ohio which, among other things, have been hammered by the decline of the automotive industry) and a patch of mixed Boom/Bust and Boom/No-Bust (the East Coast, which experienced a big runup in prices, and then only some areas crashed, and even many of those crash markets remain much higher in price than Pittsburgh).

Thinking about the recent data indicating a spike in net domestic migration to the Pittsburgh area, I don't think it is implausible we could be seeing people moving from both of these nearby patches: people from Michigan/Ohio looking for a more healthy economy, and people from the East Coast looking for lower and/or less volatile home prices.

Edit: Link to the blog post:

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/...nomics+Blog%29

[Tiger Beer]

Great map!

Interesting too the 'no bust' areas...I've been noticing that as well. Particularly the Northwest, the housing prices just aren't going down, despite people not having the wages to pay for it. The northeast is interesting as well - does that include Philadelphia? Can't really tell from the map.

Michigan is kind of funny! No boom (or modest one)...and still a bust

[BrianTH]

I edited to add the blog post and also changed to a bigger map.

Anyhoo, it looks to me like Philly might have made it into the boom/no-bust category, which sounds about right to me.

Incidentally, if you go through the linked blog post to the underlying study, it looks like NYC just barely slipped into the Boom/Bust category (it was very near the line dividing it from Boom/No-Bust). Generally, from what I have seen in the East Coast the central core areas are mostly in the Boom/No-Bust category, and it is only as you get farther out into the suburbs and exurbs that you see more Boom/Bust areas.

[Hopes]

Great map! I'm not surprised that Eastern PA is booming due to all of the people fleeing the high cost of living boom areas in surrounding states.