Things may be going relatively well here in Massachusetts (see post immediately below). But it’s a different story for housing in other parts of the nation.
It’s hard to maintain with a straight face a recovery is underway when most of the numbers elsewhere are pointing to a different conclusion.
File under: North is south.

The 10 states with the greatest annual price appreciation during April were:
1. Hawaii (13.4 percent)
2. Massachusetts (7.4 percent)
3. California (7.3 percent)
4. Virginia (6.5 percent)
5. New Hampshire (5.2 percent)
6. Maine (4.8 percent)
7. Ohio (3.9 percent)
8. Missouri (3.8 percent)
9. Rhode Island (3.6 percent)
10. Nebraska (3.6 percent)

Here are a few real estate stories you may find interesting:
– Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took over a foreclosed home roughly every 90 seconds during the first three months of this year.
– From Zillow: Four housing myths
– Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan discussed the Federal deficit in a WSJ OpEd last week. In it, [...]

The Taunton Daily Gazette raises an interesting question: Should the building permit process in Massachusetts be made easier? The Op-Ed at the Gazette thinks the answer is yes.
According to the Taunton Gazette, the permitting process in Massachusetts is exacting and time-consuming. It can take a year or more to get even a simple [...]

I think many blog reader’s will have the same reaction that retired Wellesley College economic professor Karl Case had when he heard about the recent Massachusetts housing market sales data: “I’m suprised.”
According to MLS Property Information Network:
* Last month, 3,716 single-family homes sold in Massachusetts, compared to 2,833 for the same month last year – [...]

The taxmen on the Cape have reduced the value of the main house in the famous Kennedy Compound by 16 percent to $11.5 million, reflecting the housing market decline since the last assessment.
Not that the Kennedys are planning to sell any time soon.

The chart below compares the Boston condo market listings of June 20, 2009 with the same date in 2010.

Double click chart to enlarge.

Fannie and Freddie are having to repossess so many houses that they now own 163,828 of them, says Binyamin Appelbaum in the NYT. That’s more houses than there are in Seattle.
And who owns Fannie and Freddie and their foreclosed houses and future losses? You do!
So give yourself a pat on the back, taxpayers. You’re [...]

This song is for you.

Seth Godin has an interesting blog post in which he makes a compelling argument that commercial office space will soon be an old relic.
Goodbye Cubicle