Robert David Sullivan 2

Nevada underwater, Bay State relatively dry

The Wall Street Journal reports that nearly one in four American home mortgage holders owe more than their property are worth in today's market.

Nationally, 22.6 percent of mortgage holders are "underwater," but that figure is a staggering 65.0 percent in Nevada, 47.9 percent in Arizona, 44.7 percent in Florida, 37.3 percent in Michigan, and 34.7 percent in California. (See state-by-state data here.)

In Massachusetts, the underwater percentage is a relatively low 15.6 percent. But it's still significantly higher than in New York (6.2 percent) or Pennsylvania (7.5 percent).

Slow housing growth in Mass., but better than Michigan

The Census Bureau has just released its newest estimates of housing units by state, and Massachusetts is pretty far down the list in terms of creating new homes. You can view or download the complete data here.

Massachusetts gained 113,439 housing units from April 2000 to July 2008, for an increase in total housing stock of 4.3 percent. The national increase was 11.4 percent, and the Bay State ranked 46th in growth, ahead of Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont, and Rhode Island (none of which can be considered our economic competitors). Nevada, Arizona, and Utah added housing at the fastest rates, but Florida added the most in raw numbers (1.5 million!).

During the shorter (and much more sluggish) period of July 2007 to July 2008, Massachusetts ranked 45th among the states in housing creation (46th if you count the District of Columbia). We added 9,268 during that one-year period,  for a bump of 0.3 percent vs. the national figure of 0.9 percent. Only Pennsylvania,  Connecticut, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Michigan were lower. (At least we’re ahead of bigger states now.) Michigan’s housing units rose from 4,528,887 to 4,535,323 – enough to trigger a recount if it were an election. Given that these are estimates, is it possible that Michigan is actually losing housing units?

Nevada, Utah, and Arizona remained the top three in housing gains by percentages, but Texas overtook foreclosure-plagued Florida for the title of most units built: 168,009 in one year.

Home builders deem Worcester "80 percent affordable"

The Worcester area has the most affordable housing stock in New England, according to new data from the National Association of Home Builders. The group's Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) estimated that 79.5 percent of the area's homes sold in the last quarter of 2008 were affordable to families making the median household income of $76,900. Thanks to falling home prices, the share of homes deemed "affordable" was up from 72.6 percent in the previous quarter and 57.8 percent in the previous year. That figure hit a low of 42.2 percent in 2005, when median sales prices in the Worcester area hit a high of $265,000.

The trend isn't limited to Worcester. The NAHB reports that "Nationwide housing affordability surged at year-end 2008 to its highest level in at least five years."

The HOI indicated that 62.4 percent of all new and existing homes that were sold in the final quarter of 2008 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $61,500, up considerably from the 56.1 percent of homes that were affordable to such families in the previous quarter and the 46.6 percent of homes that were affordable to them at the end of 2007.

The most affordable metro area was Lansing, Michigan (95.0 percent of homes affordable to families making the metro median income of $62,700), followed by Sandusky and Lima, both in Ohio. But given that all three have higher-than-average unemployment rates, they probably aren't going to be attracting a lot of new families.

Housing starts hit "record" low in 2008

Housing construction in the US hit an "all-time low" in December, according to new data from the National Association of Home Builders. (The definition of "all-time" is not clear; there must have been more housing starts last month than in December 1908.) The figures for all of 2008 were no better:

On an annual basis, year-end figures from the Commerce Department show that overall housing starts plunged to a record low of 904,000 units in 2008, down 33.3 percent from the previous year. Single-family starts were down 40.5 percent for the year to 622,000 units, while multifamily starts were off by 8.8 percent to 282,000 units.

State-level data from the Census Bureau is only available through November, but they show a decline in Massachusetts of 34.8 percent over the comparable period in 2007, almost exactly the same as the national decline of 34.5 percent. Housing starts fell by more than 50 percent in Georgia and the District of Columbia. The only increase was in New York, thanks to a jump in structures with at least five housing units.

Worcester wants struggling artists

Despite the bad economy, Worcester is apparently proceeding apace in its bid to become a magnet for the creative class (or, in Michigan lingo, a cool city). The Daily Worcesteria notes that the renovated Hadley-Burwick Building on Main Street, once a furniture store, is now advertising for tenants on craigslist. The ad makes a pitch for "artists, creative types, entrepreneurs" and touts the "cool, loft feel" of the rent-controlled apartments. Not much mention of nearby amenities (it's 15-minute walk to the commuter rail), but urban pioneers can't limit themselves to Whole Food neighborhoods.

A foreclosure milestone on the West Coast

If you bought a house in Southern California last month, the previous owners probably didn't leave willingly.