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.
Game on
"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.
Repeat play
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.
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