STATE-BY-STATE REAL ESTATE TRENDS Indicate 2008 Presidential Preference!
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE OBAMA LEADS IN MOST STATES SHOWING PRICE DECLINES 2007-2008!
During the home stretch of this historic Presidential Election Campaign, we all know the U.S. Economy has become the key issue on most voters' minds. Unemployment rates are up in many areas, income stagnant versus price inflation, and home prices have declined.
Years ago, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the late Tip O'Neill declared, "All politics is local!" The same can be said of the U.S. Housing Market. Indeed, there is no NATIONAL housing market - only a collection of local ones.
One measure of comparative housing prices comes from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), which tracks data by state for homes backed by a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac-guaranteed mortgage loan.
OFHEO Data indicate that Democrat IL Senator Barack Obama leads in all but two states which show price declines between the end of the Second Quarter, 2007, and the Second Quarter of this year, the latest period for which their statistics are available. The exception states, in which Republican AZ Senator John McCain leads - his home state of Arizona, and the home state of running mate and Vice Presidential Candidate AK Governor Sarah Palin - Alaska.
Here is the OFHEO Chart comparing home sales data, unemployment rates, and changes in personal income for every state, from a post by Phil Izzo yesterday in the Real Time Economics Blog in The Wall Street Journal.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
