Real estate 'misery' and the presidential race

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS
Produced by Inman News
March 2, 2012
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Real estate 'misery' and the presidential race
Foreclosure-ridden states top Trulia's 'Housing Misery Index'

By Inman News
Inman News®
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Despite the approach of "Super Tuesday" elections on March 6, it is unlikely that candidates in the Republican presidential primary race will focus much on housing until June, according to real estate search and marketing site Trulia.

That's because, of the four states hardest hit by the housing crisis, three -- Nevada, Florida and Arizona -- have already had their primaries. The fourth, California, has its primary June 5.

"If candidates want to talk about what voters want most, they should focus on housing issues where it's clearly a pain point for voters. This means that ... we probably won't hear much about housing from the presidential candidates again until the summer," said Jed Kolko, Trulia's chief economist, in a blog post.

In order to figure out which states are suffering the most from the housing downturn, Trulia developed a Housing Misery Index that adds together the percentage change in home prices from their peak through fourth-quarter 2011, from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and the percent of mortgages either severely delinquent (by 90 days or more) or in foreclosure as of fourth-quarter 2011, from CoreLogic.

Trulia Housing Misery Index: Top 10 'most miserable' states
State Housing Misery Index
Nevada 73
Florida 62
Arizona 55
California 54
Michigan 37
Idaho 35
Rhode Island 34
Georgia 34
Washington 33
Maryland 32

Source: Trulia