Housing slump hits strongest markets, too

Housing professionals like to say that residential real estate is all about location. I’ve heard from many Realtors that you have to look at individual markets when talking about the country’s housing slump. Just because sales are bad and prices are dropping in much of Florida, it doesn’t mean that things are equally as bad in Chicago.

A recent story by James Hagerty in the Washington Post’s online Real Estate Journal says that’s changing. Even previously strong real estate markets are now suffering from the housing slump. You can read the story here.

According to the story, the housing slump has finally hit the Pacific Northwest and North Carolina, two markets that had largely been immune to the problems in the residential real estate market. The story even mentions that Manhattan may soon seen its own version of the housing slump.

There is some good news in the story, though. The markets in Boston and Denver are still going strong, for instance. And Dallas held steady, too.

But the overall theme of the story is a chilling one for those hoping that an end to the housing slump is near: Housing troubles are still spreading across the country. It looks like 2008 is going to be another tough year for the residential market.