The flood stricken areas of New Orleans was last year’s fastest growing metropolitan area in the US according to the US Census Bureau. The area was decimated when the 2005 hurricane season hit the area with flood after flood causing mass exodus from the area. Today, rapid development and re-construction efforts are fuelling the return of more residents as they try to regain their lives in the flood torn areas. The mass exodus of people had crime rates rise to unprecedented levels but efforts by private and government agencies are changing all that and people are returning allowing rapid development with better houses that replaced old-style ones with storm proof and flood proof ones to prevent such events from happening again.

There might not be too much news that can be seen as good in the realty business but in the metropolitan areas of the US many major town centers are selling condo-style properties as a steady rate. As more people lose homes due to foreclosures, people look first to rental properties which has already been maxed out and not much is left. Even in cities where these properties are located and are quite pricy has seen a surge in rentals and some purchases as people try to save on gas by moving into areas nearer their businesses or employment. People have been holding their breath and those who foresaw the problems in the housing market have long turned blue in anticipation of thing s getting any better. As employment grows to around 16%, more people are opting to rent rather than buy homes which have an over-supply of around 1 1/2 year’s overstock if compared to goods. The only way for the market to rebound is for these stagnating properties to get turned back into liquid assets that can be used as capital for further developments and to pay off debts.

When the year started, house sales jumped and seemed to be unaffected by the sub-prime crisis but that was only to last a few months for as the news hit home, it hit hard for as figures come and are analyzed by the people in the real estate market, it shows that there was a huge drop in sales compared to the first quarter last year. With more than 2,000 homes sold, that was a plunge of 34 plus percent from last year’s figures. The crisis is only just being felt and people are still holding off buying homes with movement only in small fractions, that is not enough to get the market out of the slump it is in.

As property prices plunge, major investment companies are taking advantage of the low prices by buying up previously expensive properties in city centers boosting their positions in the major city centers. As with Glory Capital, the company has purchased 7 metropolitan buildings in the Fort-Greene-Clinton Jill part of Brooklyn for $18.3 million dollars. The units have experienced a slump in rental which had them being put up for sale due to 60% rental rate drops. The move has investors in the housing and property industry moving into more active operator modes allowing them to capitalize on the current price slump.

Experts are saying that it may take at least another 12 months for the industry to recover and others are maintaining that it will take longer for the crisis’s effects are just hitting home as the economy worsens and job cuts are as common as foreclosures. Whole neighborhoods wiped out due to financial constraints and many more. Surging gas prices aren’t helping either for that leads to higher prices for food and other necessities. Prices are hitting ever lower ranges yet not much movement is still being felt. Used homes that are being sold off in exchange for smaller more manageable properties are not faring any better for people are becoming pickier in their choices. Only the best kept and maintained manage to get sold and even with that, only after huge discounts as buyers haggle for lower prices.

As if the news cannot get any worse, mortgage packages which had homeowners choose their payment durations are now also being hit hard and are showing a steady increase in defaults as people are finding it harder to get the cash they need. More commonly known as adjustable rate mortgages, these products would have the homeowner choose the most convenient time frame with the equivalent rates. These are proving to be more difficult than sub-prime loans for any failure to settle, immediately results in forfeiture of the loan leaving people without homes they have been working hard for. As it turns out, a majority of these homeowners are now finding it hard to fathom the implications of these optional Arm’s and are ending up on the loosing side. This would surely bring out another problem in the industry which would have property owners and lenders to explain more of the nuances that were not at all issues when people had the ability to pay up.