Home Price: Bubble?

If you are thinking of buying a home in this hot market, probably you need
to think a lot. If you think your job is stable and you may not have to
move within 10 years, you may come out OK, whatever and however
people term the current home price - 'bubble' or 'peak' or whatever! But if
you think you might need to move out within a time-frame of 5 years or
less, possibly you would be better off renting a house or living in some
cooler housing market like in midwest. With rising interest rate, no doubt
home prices pose a serious risk to your money and new investment into
real estate.

According to statistics released in May by the National Association of
Realtors (NAR), U.S. residential real estate markets lost no steam in the
first quarter of 2005. The NAR's quarterly report covers 136 metro areas.
A record 66 of these have experienced double-digit jumps in home prices
over the past year.

The median price of a single-family American home hit $188,800 at the
end of the first quarter, a rise of 9.7 percent compared with a year ago.
The NAR, the nation's biggest real estate agent group, pointed to tight
inventories as a major factor in the continued strong growth. The median
house price was highest in the West, at $282,900, and lowest in the
Midwest at $148,800.

Here is the list of the top 10 Metropolitan areas with home price
appreciation from the first quarter 2004 through the first quarter 2005:
... and it is dominated by Florida!
1) Bradenton, FL 45.6%
2) Sarasota, FL 36%
3) W. Palm Beach/Boca Raton/Delray Beach, FL 35.9%
4) Riverside/San Bernardino, CA 32.6%
5) Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood/Pompano Beach, FL 31.8%
6) Las Vegas, NV 29.4%
7) Melbourne/Titusville/Palm Bay, FL 29.3%
8) Orlando, FL 28.7%
9) Miami/Hialeah, FL 28.4%
10) Ocala, FL 27%