Best of a Bad Situation?

Best of a bad situation?
By E. Thomas Wood

Posted on July 7, 2009 at 1:56 pm

Among large metro areas, Nashville has one of the most stable housing markets in the country. That’s the word from PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., which has just put out its latest quarterly Economic and Real Estate Trends Report.

PMI’s risk index, projecting the likelihood that housing prices will be lower in two years, gives the 13-county Nashville metropolitan statistical area a score of 16.6 out of 100, versus ratings of 99.9 each for the Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix MSAs, among others at the bleak end of the scale. Mighty Cleveland scored the lowest risk rating at 1.5 — go figure — with several Texas cities also posting robust scores. Charlotte came in just ahead of Nashville with a rating of 15.

The national picture:

As many as 324 - approximately 85 percent - of the nation’s 381 MSAs are now facing increased risk of lower home prices in 2011. Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona continue to have the highest risk scores - 36 of the most risky MSAs are located in these four states - but an increased risk of lower future prices is now spreading across all regions of the nation, due to the significant increases in unemployment and foreclosure rates.