Housing Overvaluation Still Declining

The incidence of overvaluation in the nation's housing market continued to decline in the first quarter, as the overall number of single-family housing units deemed to be overvalued fell from 17% to 14%, according to an analysis released by Global Insight Inc., Waltham, Mass.The quarterly Housing Valuation Analysis, which looked at the top 317 U.S. real estate markets, also found that the percentage of single-family asset value deemed overvalued fell from 33% in the fourth quarter to 25% in the first quarter. The company said the most highly concentrated declines came in California, Florida, New York, and New England. "Widespread weakness across the country is a reflection of the dramatic swing in sentiment and bargaining power between buyers and sellers," said James Diffley, managing director of Global Insight's Regional Services Group. The analysis is a joint effort of Global Insight and National City Corp., Cleveland. More information can be found online at http://www.globalinsight.com/housingvaluation and http://www.nationalcity.com/housevaluation.