We may be there. According to Clear Capital, a Truckee, California-based real estate research company, the firm’s Home Data Index (HDI) Market Report indicates that 2012 will be a relatively flat year for housing appreciation (compared to a number of years of depreciation in Real Estate values) across the nation. But...

(a big but), that’s taking a national average. And averages never quite tell your personal story. That is, the recently reported average unemployment rate of 8.5% is experienced very differently if you are part of the 8.5% or part of the 91.5%.

Here is an excerpt on the subject from Forbes.com writer Morgan Brennan:

Clear Capital warns that the relatively flat national average is composed of metro markets that have been anything but: “Individual markets reacting to their local economic conditions continued to exhibit a wide range of performance levels in 2011, with only 12 of the top 50 metro markets (24%), returning year-over-year price movement that can be considered stable,” the HDI report cautions. Stable price movement means price swings of less than 2.5%. The company believes only 40% of the country’s largest metro areas will be stable in 2012. Among them: Denver, Colo., San Jose, Calif., Boston, Mass., Oklahoma City, Okla., and San Francisco, Calif.

As for the areas where prices may actually appreciate the most this year, the firm expects Orlando, Fla. home prices to rise 11.7%, hard-hit Bakersfield, Calif. 11.1%, government jobs-driven Washington, D.C. 9.3%, foreclosure-riddled Phoenix, Ariz. 8.9%, and sales-heavy Miami, Fla. 8.8%.

Markets that will experience further price drops this year include Atlanta, Ga. (14.4% anticipated loss), Los Angeles, Calif. (10.3% anticipated loss), Seattle, Wash. (7.5% anticipated loss), Oxnard, Calif. (6.7% anticipated loss), and foreclosure capital Las Vegas, Nev. (6.4% anticipated loss).

There more supporting evidence that we may hit bottom other than the HDI report. To read the entire article, click here: Has the Housing Market Finally Hit Bottom? By Morgan Brennan, Forbes.com, January 10, 2012.

Jeff Smith has been helping families in the Marin community for more than 17 years. As a trusted financial advisor and mortgage advisor, Jeff helps his clients make better financial decisions to improve the outcomes of the financial choices in life.