No Areas Immune from Housing Crash

New York, NY, Feb. 14, 2011 -- The real estate crash that decimated Florida and the Southwest is delivering a new wave of distress to communities once thought to be immune — economically diversified cities where the boom was relatively restrained, the New York Times is reporting.

In the last year, home prices in Seattle had a bigger decline than in Las Vegas. Minneapolis dropped more than Miami, and Atlanta fared worse than Phoenix.

The Times reports that the bubble markets, where builders, buyers and banks ran wild, began falling first, so they are close to the end of the cycle and in some cases on their way back up. Nearly everyone else still has another season of pain.

Seattle is down about 31% from its mid-2007 peak and, according to housing website Zillow’s calculations, still has as much as 10% to fall, the Times said.