It's taking longer and longer to sell a home in Alabama as housing markets all over the state feel the pinch from the credit crisis, but there are still a couple of markets that look fairly promising in 2009.
In Birmingham the market peaked in 2006, but now business is slowing down and housing sales have fallen off. The once growing computer and biotech industries are considering more layoffs as the community sees home construction slow to a crawl.
Birmingham has been hit hard by the credit crunch, losing thousands of jobs in the banking sector. Birmingham is coming off its best two years in real estate in history in 2006 and 2007. But since the community and most of the state entered the housing slowdown later than most other places it will experience more of the brunt of the impact in 2009. Home prices are slipping and are forecast to deflate through the year by Housing Predictor at a rate of 12.7%.
Down state in Mobile on the Gulf of Mexico the economy is moving a long much better than most places in the country, but housing sales are softening since it's tougher to get a mortgage, and until lenders loosen the purse strings it's likely to be slow for a while.
 |
| City |
Forecast |
| Birmingham |
− 12.7% |
| Huntsville |
− 6.9% |
| Mobile |
− 2.8% |
| Montgomery |
− 11.3% |
| Dothan |
− 10.2% |
Tuscaloosa |
− 9.7% |
Mobile gained plenty of new residents after Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana, but its growth phase has begun to ebb. The vacation home market has also been slowed due to the recession as the south braces for a long economic slowdown. However, Mobile should be able to withstand a lengthy recession much better than the majority of the state with forecast deflation to be marginal for the year at 2.8%.
In Huntsville, where job growth is coming to an end the real estate market is in for a further slow down in 2009 as Northern Alabama feels the impact from the credit crunch in ways that its never experienced. But its ties to the military will help to strengthen the Huntsville housing market and lessen the blow. The economy in Huntsville should also do much better than most of the rest of the state through the long slump. Huntsville is forecast to deflate 6.9% in average values through the year.
Lots and lots of people have moved out of some places in Alabama, including Montgomery, which is the state capital and homes sales are off. The subprime problem made a major impact on this community and the credit crisis will make a further impact as home values tumble by a forecast 11.3% in 2009.
The economy hasn't come to a screeching halt in Tuscaloosa and neither has the real estate market, despite a slowdown in home sales. Businesses that have moved into the area have added lots of jobs, but housing sales will still be slower in 2009 and as a result values are forecast to fall an average of 9.7%.
Dothan is losing jobs and seen its economy slow as the recession begins to impact this mostly rural community. More layoffs are in store and that means more people will have trouble making their mortgages. The foreclosure epidemic is making inroads in Dothan.
Foreclosures coupled with slower home sales will send prices south again in 2009 at a forecast rate of 10.2% on average for the year.
