The average price of both new and existing homes sold in the second quarter fell but a mere 1 percent, according to the latest government figures.
Prices were divided evenly among the country's 32 largest metropolitan areas covered in the survey by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), with 16 showing increases and 16 registering declines.
But if the four markets with the largest declines — Las Vegas, Nev.; Detroit, Mich.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Orlando, Fla. — are removed from the quarterly study, the average sales price nationally rose 2.4 percent.
Most of the activity in these four cities is distressed sales. And sales made under duress often are not comparable to regular arm's-length transactions in which buyers and sellers come to a meeting of the minds without any outside influences other than their own personal needs.
Even without factoring out these four places, the second-quarter decline is less than the 2.7 percent drop recorded in the first quarter of this year or the 5.2 percent slide found in the fourth quarter of last year.
Consequently, the FHFA's latest numbers are perhaps another indication the housing market is nearing equilibrium, if it hasn't already.
Of course, both buyers and sellers should take national figures reported in this or any other survey with a grain of salt. Far more important is what's going on in their cities, or more specifically, their communities, neighborhoods or even their streets.
Take the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore, Md., metroplex, for instance. The government study shows the average price of both new and resale houses fell 3.6 percent in the second quarter. David Rathgeber of Your Friend in Real Estate in Potomac Falls, Va., reports prices were up 1.4 percent in July in the northern Virginia areas where he plies his trade.
In Las Vegas, often held up as the poster child for real-estate excess, the average nose-dived by 43 percent, the study found. According to local agent Rob Jenson of the Jenson Group, 83 percent of the June deals in Sin City were either foreclosures or short sales. Ditto for July.
Of the 16 places where prices fell in the three-month period from April through June, the decline in Vegas was the largest. Prices also plummeted 28 percent in Orlando, 24 percent in Phoenix and 16 percent in Detroit.
The needle hardly budged in Cincinnati, Ohio, and New York City, two "down" markets where the declines were more technical than monetary. In Cincinnati, for example, the average dipped by $200. The average fell $1,500 in the Big Apple, and that represents a 0.3 percent slide.
Even though the average fell 3.9 percent in San Francisco, Calif., the Bay Area remains the nation's priciest city for housing. And at $598,200, the average is now below $600,000. This time last year, it was $622,700.
In something of a surprise, Seattle, Wash., now is the country's second most expensive market. The average in the Puget Sound region is $498,600, an increase of 6.6 percent from $467,700.
In addition, Portland, Ore., the other big Pacific Northwest market, moved into the seventh spot on the top-10 list. There, the average rose 17.6 percent, from $362,900 to $426,800.
As it did in the Bay Area, the average price fell 3.9 percent in San Diego, Calif., dropping from $514,500 to $494,200 and making it the third priciest place on the mainland.
Los Angeles, Calif., comes in fourth, even though the average fell 2 percent, from $480,700 to $470,900. Sacramento, the other large California market, has slipped all the way out of the top 10, even though the average there rose 6.5 percent, from $312,600 to $332,800. Washington, D.C., currently is fifth with an average price of $466,400, down 3.6 percent from $483,800.
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