Detroit housing market deflated by ailing economy [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-09-12T193538Z_01_N12174852_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-DETROIT-HOUSING.XML

CHICAGO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Detroit real estate broker Jerry Hebron remembered the boom times for housing in the Motor City, when new listings were snapped up quickly and housing values doubled.

Now houses were lingering on the market for an average six months to a year, she said.

"We're in a buyers' market. Last year at this time we were having a sellers' market." said Hebron, president of the Detroit Association of Realtors and a broker at Hebron Prime Time Properties.

The city's souring economy, high property taxes and big homeowner insurance bills have put the brakes on the housing market, according to Hebron.

The receding boom in Detroit's single-family housing has caught the attention of economists studying the potential and dangers of housing bubbles in the U.S.

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