Nebraska

An increase in inventory is pushing prices south in Nebraska, but not at an alarming rate. The Nebraska real estate market has had a steady history of slow growth, and although the real estate boom energized Nebraska’s market a major boom never materialized like in other places.

Nebraska’s economy is solid attracting top international businesses and a growing job market, which will at least partially foster the housing market in 2008.

In the state’s largest city of Omaha on the banks of the Missouri River, it’s a buyer’s market with a surplus inventory of homes listed for sale. Many potential home owners are taking their time to make a decision in the community that has been ranked as one of the best cities in the nation repeatedly for businesses.

Homes priced below $200,000 are still selling at a healthy pace, but the higher price ranges have seen sales slow. The credit crunch is having an impact on the market place, but not to the degree that other states have experienced. The nation’s chief corn-belt state didn’t experience as much new creative financing as other states did, which in part at least protects the area from a crash in its housing markets.

City	Forecast
Omaha	− 6.1%
Lincoln	− 7.0%
Bellevue	− 4.8%

However, Omaha has seen foreclosures rise and short sales increase as a result of adjustable rate mortgages resetting. Foreclosures will increase throughout the state, but Nebraska will see one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the nation.

Omaha is forecast by Housing Predictor to have a slower year in home sales on its way to deflation of 6.1%.

In the state’s oldest city, Bellevue the local housing market is less affected by subprime mortgage and fancy alternative mortgage products, mainly because of its military base. Military borrowers typically either get a VA or FHA loan. But home sales have also slowed in Bellevue as marketing periods for listed homes become longer.

New home construction is still going on outside of Bellevue even as the market weakens and sale prices slide. Bellevue will see an increasingly slower market on the way to projected depreciation on the average of 4.8%.

In Lincoln the market is taking a harder hit in home prices, which is forecast to worsen through 2008. The average price of a home in Lincoln has slipped to under $150,000 for the first time in years as a result of slower sales and buyer uneasiness over the housing market.

Home sales are projected to drop increasing throughout the winter months as Nebraska gets hit with winter snows and then slightly increase into spring, which is typical for the market. Prices will decline a forecast 7.0% in average values in 2008.