Oklahoma is No. 1 in housing game

By Richard Mize

Published: August 27, 2008

Oklahoma is No. 1 in home value gains — at a time when homeowners in most of the rest of the country are wondering what hit them in their equity.

The Sooner State led the nation in appreciation, first among the 50 states, for the period ending June 30, the federal government said Tuesday.

With values in a historic general national decline in most of the country — and in a freefall in some places — values in Oklahoma rose 4.9 percent in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of 2007, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight Home Price Index.

Nationally, values fell 1.7 percent during the same period. The U.S. purchase-only index tumbled 4.8 percent over the year, the agency reported.

"Oklahoma is No. 1! Whew, am I glad football season is back. But wait, that is our housing market,” quipped Mike Means, executive vice president of the Oklahoma State Home Builders Association. "Why? Two strong markets — Oklahoma City and Tulsa.”

In fact, Tulsa ranked 10th among metro areas, with an increase of 4.87 percent. Oklahoma City ranked 17th with an increase of 4.68 percent.

Quarter to quarter, Tulsa values increased 0.91 percent and Oklahoma City values increased 1.87 percent, the federal agency reported.

"To me it affirms what we have been saying all along. We did not have the overheated market and did not have the investor-speculative market. Slow and steady was our pace and still is. Bottom line, our prices are still increasing, so if you don't buy now, the price is going up. Good news for Oklahoma, I say,” Means said.

The federal agency's main index tracks all transactions, purchases as well as refinances. The new numbers echoed second-quarter statistics from the National Association of Realtors.

The Realtors reported that Oklahoma City and Tulsa were among 35 metro areas that showed gains in median home prices in the second quarter.

Oklahoma City's median price of $131,000 was 1.3 percent higher than the $129,300 recorded in the second quarter of 2007 and 4.8 percent higher than the $124,900 recorded in the first quarter, the Realtors said.

Tulsa's median price of $132,000 was 2.3 percent higher than the $129,000 recorded in the second quarter of 2007 and 8 percent higher than the $122,200 median price in the first quarter, the group said.

"Oklahoma is very fortunate. This is the eighth straight year we are seeing steady increases in home appreciation,” said Sam Rader, chairman of the board of Tulsa-based Coldwell Banker Select, which has 20 offices and 700 agents across the state.

"Here in Tulsa, and throughout the state, we have not experienced the sharp increases or decreases in home values that have occurred elsewhere. On the contrary, we have continued to see slight but steady growth during these uncertain times for other markets,” Rader said. "This dynamic is fueled by the fact that our market is made up of solid demand from of home owners rather than from real estate speculators.”

Lawton home builder Steve Barnes, a former president of the state builders association, said the housing market also is benefiting from Oklahoma's strong economy, which is also generally out of step with the nation.

"It is simple. I am on a bank advisory board and see across the board what the different business sectors are doing,” Barnes said. "Ag business is stable to very good with the crop prices, even with the fuel costs. Oklahoma being an oil- and natural gas-producing state, this (too) has a strong positive impact. Fort Sill, Altus Air Force Base, Tinker Air Force Base, Vance Air Force Base and the other defense industry businesses are huge impacts on Oklahoma.

"Many states are going backwards but Oklahoma has these three (sectors) pushing our economy where most do not.”

The inner workings of the housing sector itself in Oklahoma also sidestepped some of the factors that are causing other markets to fall, said Victoria Caldwell, a RE/MAX franchise broker-owner in Edmond and vice president of MLSOK.com, the metro Realtors' multiple listing service.

"We didn't have the unfounded appreciation that some of the areas hardest hit had. We also didn't have a mortgage market that was completely dependant upon nonconforming loans. The largest percentage of our properties can be purchased using conforming conventional and Federal Housing Administration-backed loans,” Caldwell said.

Barnes said most Oklahoma home buyers "qualified for the loans they received.”

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