National price trends are important to Dane County

We've covered how the Dane County real estate market - even with its dramatic slowdown - is different from many other markets around the country. So far we haven't seen the huge price corrections that many other markets are facing.

Nonetheless we are a player in the larger market, and what happens in the larger market does affect us. Take a look at this graph which shows the national monthly median price ranging from January of 2005 to July of 2008.




Prices started to fall on a year-over-year basis (noted by the red data points) in the summer of 2006, which is exactly when our market started to show signs of weakening prices. What's more telling is this next graph, which shows the year-over-year price change for each month dating back to January of 2005.



The national trend toward lower prices is still very strong. In fact July was the eighth straight month with a year-over-year price decrease of at least 5%. The national market needs to show some clear signs of improving price trends before we should expect a similar turnaround in our market. Let's see what today's news brings when the NAR releases its statistics for the month of August. For more information on our local home and condo markets, visit the real estate trends page at DaneCountyMarket.com.