South by Southwest: The housing meltdown is regional

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Today’s report on falling home values from Case-Shiller is further evidence that the housing meltdown is not a 50-state phenomenon: Price declines are concentrated in California, the rest of the Southwest and Florida, which I’ll now call the Bubble Belts. Take a look at these numbers from today’s Case-Shiller report:

Declines in California-Southwest-Florida from April ’07 to April ‘08:
Las Vegas -26.8%
Miami -26.7%
Phoenix -25.0%
Los Angeles -23.1%
San Diego -22.4%
San Francisco -22.1%
Tampa -20.4%
Average decline for Cal.-Southwest-Florida: -23.8%

Declines in other large cities:
Atlanta -7.5%
Boston -6.4%
Charlotte -0.1%
Chicago -9.3%
Cleveland -6.8%
Dallas -3.4%
Denver -4.7%
Detroit -18.0%
Minneapolis -15.5%
New York -8.4%
Portland -4.7%
Seattle -4.9%
Washington -14.8%
Average decline for rest of the nation: -8.0%

Conclusion: The price declines in the Bubble Belts are three times as severe as those in the rest of the nation.

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.