Lincoln ranks high for housing recovery potential

Nobody's going to confuse South Street with South Beach, but Lincoln and Miami do have at least one thing in common.
They are the two metropolitan areas most likely to see a housing recovery, according to Forbes magazine.
Forbes looked at 161 of the country's largest metropolitan areas, where sales have increased over the past year and where foreclosure sales are the lowest. The magazine used data from Zillow.com, an online housing data firm based in Seattle.
By that measure, Miami ranked No. 1, with sales up 27 percent over the past year and foreclosures making up 3.5 percent of sales. Lincoln was No. 2, with a 15 percent increase in sales and 3.6 percent of sales foreclosures.
Kevin Burklund, a Realtor with Woods Bros., said it doesn't surprise him at all to see Lincoln on the list.
"It's really more surprising that Miami's in there," Burklund said.
He said that with the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, there is so much going on in the lower price ranges, agents are trying to drum up enough listings.
Rich Rodenburg, co-owner of Nebraska Home Sales, agreed that the credit has been the stimulus it was intended to be.
"We have buyers coming out of the woodwork," Rodenburg said.
As he spoke with a reporter, Rodenburg said he was writing an offer on a home for a first-time buyer. The people selling the home are having a new one built, he said.
"We are seeing the dominoes fall uphill," Rodenburg said.
The Forbes ranking is the second piece of national recognition the Lincoln housing market has gotten this summer.
In June, Cyberhomes.com named Lincoln the third-best market for first-time homebuyers.
The state as a whole also got recognition earlier this week from the National Association of Realtors, which said Nebraska was one of only five states where home sales increased more than 20 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter.
Realtors attribute the local success to houses that are priced reasonably, a relatively stable economy and continued low interest rates.
"It's a perfect storm for selling your house right now," Burklund said.

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