America's Most Polluted Cities

The American Lung Association has issued its annual State of Air report.

Here is the related article:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/28/real_estate/most_polluted_cities/index.htm?postversion=2009042912

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/28/pollution-ozone-air-lifestyle-health-ozone-pollution.html

Here is the summary of America's most polluted cities:

The nation's 10 most polluted cities in terms of ozone.

City	State	Average ozone level (2005-2006)
Los Angeles	CA	138.8
Bakersfield	CA	110.5
Visalia-Porterville	CA	101.2
Fresno-Madera	CA	62.7
Houston	TX	53.7
Sacramento	CA	49.7
Dallas	TX	38.8
Charlotte	NC	37
Phoenix	AZ	36.5
El Centro	CA	32.8

The nation's 10 most polluted cities by amount of particulates.

Metro area	State	Average particles level (2005-2007)
Bakersfield	CA	20.3
Pittsburgh	CA	19.8
Visalia	CA	19.3
Birmingham	AL	18.9
Hanford	CA	17.6
Fresno	CA	17.4
Cincinnati	OH	17.3
Detroit	MI	17.2
Los Angeles	CA	17.1
Cleveland	OH	16.8

While this data does not have direct correlations with real estate price, I certainly want to avoid living in these cities.

As for the LA, I found air fairly clean near the coast. But in inland, it is quite bad. In terms of that, it has correlations with real estate price!

Happy Investing!!!

Mercer Quality of Living Index 2009

Mercer Consulting, the leading human resource and compensation consulting firm, has annouced 2009 Quality of Living Index.

Mercer has analyzed 420 cities worldwide and indexed each cities and used New York City as bench mark (100).

Its methodology is:

- Political and Social environment
- Economy environment
- Cultural environment
- Health and Cleanness
- Educational environment
- Infrastructure
- Recreation
- Consumer goods avaiablity
- Living environment
- Natural environment

Because of it, this index has the following tendancies (in my opinion).

1) Mid sized cities does better than large cities.
2) "Cold" weather places tend to do better.
3) Non-American cities with lots of expats tend to do better.
4) English speaking cities tend to do better.
5) After all, it is ranking for expats with family -- not for everyone.

Here is the ranking of Top 50 cities.

- European (especially in Switzerland and Germany) and Canadian cities dominate top 20 cities.

- Top 5 in USA is Honolulu, San Francisco, Boston, Portland and Washington DC.

- While it is not listed in below ranking, the worst city is Baghdad with 14. If you are sent to Baghdad, make sure that you demand at least 6 times of your current salary for your "hardship"!

Mercer Quality of Living Survey - Worldwide Rankings, 2009
Base City: New York, USA (=100)
Rank	Rank	City	Country	QoL Index 2009	QoL Index 2008
2009	2008
1	2	Vienna	Austria	108.6	107.9
2	1	Zurich	Switzerland	108.0	108.0
3	2	Geneva	Switzerland	107.9	107.9
4	4	Vancouver	Canada	107.4	107.6
4	5	Auckland	New Zealand	107.4	107.3
6	6	Dusseldorf	Germany	107.2	107.2
7	7	Munich	Germany	107.0	107.0
8	7	Frankfurt	Germany	106.8	107.0
9	9	Bern	Switzerland	106.5	106.5
10	10	Sydney	Australia	106.3	106.3
11	11	Copenhagen	Denmark	106.2	106.2
12	12	Wellington	New Zealand	105.9	105.8
13	13	Amsterdam	Netherlands	105.7	105.7
14	14	Brussels	Belgium	105.4	105.4
15	15	Toronto	Canada	105.3	105.3
16	19	Ottawa	Canada	105.0	104.7
16	16	Berlin	Germany	105.0	105.0
18	17	Melbourne	Australia	104.8	104.8
19	17	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	104.6	104.8
20	20	Stockholm	Sweden	104.5	104.5
21	21	Perth	Australia	104.3	104.3
22	22	Montreal	Canada	104.2	104.2
23	23	Nurnberg	Germany	104.1	104.1
24	24	Oslo	Norway	103.7	103.7
25	25	Dublin	Ireland	103.6	103.5
26	32	Singapore	Singapore	103.5	102.9
26	25	Calgary	Canada	103.5	103.5
28	27	Hamburg	Germany	103.4	103.4
29	28	Honolulu	United States	103.1	103.1
30	29	San Francisco	United States	103.0	103.0
30	29	Helsinki	Finland	103.0	103.0
30	29	Adelaide	Australia	103.0	103.0
33	32	Paris	France	102.9	102.9
34	34	Brisbane	Australia	102.4	102.4
35	35	Tokyo	Japan	102.2	102.2
35	37	Boston	United States	102.2	101.8
37	36	Lyon	France	101.9	101.9
38	38	Yokohama	Japan	101.6	101.6
38	38	London	United Kingdom	101.6	101.6
40	40	Kobe	Japan	100.9	100.9
41	41	Milan	Italy	100.8	100.8
42	48	Portland	United States	100.6	100.2
42	42	Barcelona	Spain	100.6	100.6
44	44	Washington	United States	100.3	100.3
44	44	Osaka	Japan	100.3	100.3
44	44	Lisbon	Portugal	100.3	100.3
44	44	Chicago	United States	100.3	100.3
48	43	Madrid	Spain	100.2	100.5
49	49	New York City	United States	100.0	100.0
50	50	Seattle	United States	99.8	99.8

For your reference, below is Top 5 Cities by the regions.

Top 5 cities - Americas
- Vancouver, Canada (tied 4th)
- Toronto, Canada (15th)
- Ottawa, Canada (16th)
- Montreal, Canada (22nd)
- Calgary, Canada (26th)

Top 5 cities - Asia Pacific
- Auckland, New Zealand (tied 4th)
- Sydney, Australia (10th)
- Wellington, New Zealand (12th)
- Melbourne, Australia (18th)
- Perth, Australia (21st)

Top 5 cities - Europe
- Vienna, Austria ( 1st)
- Zurich, Switzerland (2nd)
- Geneva, Switzerland (3rd)
- Dusseldorf, Germany (6th)
- Munich, Germany (7th)

Top 5 cities - Middle East & Africa
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates (77th)
- Port Louis, Mauritius (82nd)
- Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (84th)
- Cape Town, South Africa (87th)
- Port Elizabeth, South Africa (93rd)

While this is index does not have direct relationship with real estate price, it is good data to know. This index also indicate that, if you want to balance work and life, it is your best bet to get out of mega cities like New York, Tokyo or London and settle at mid-size cities.

Happy Investing!!!!

US Metros with High Crime Rate.

Ranking from Forbes.com about Top 15 US MSA (Metropolitan Statical Area) with high violent crime rate. This is based on 2008 FBI crime data and Forbes has sorted data by MSA by combining data of cities in each MSA.

Rank Metropolitan Area Violent Crimes per 100,000
1 Detroit, Mich. 1,220
2 Memphis, Tenn. 1,218
3 Miami, Fla. 988
4 Las Vegas, Nev. 887
5 Stockton, Calif. 885
6 Orlando, Fla. 845
7 Little Rock, Ark. 831
8 Charleston, S.C. 824
9 Nashville, Tenn. 817
10 Baltimore, Md. 791
11 New Orleans, La. 773
12 Baton Rouge, La. 728
13 West Palm Beach, Fla. 726
14 Charlotte, N.C. 721
15 Philadelphia, Pa. 709

Again, Detroit got the honor of the most crime ridden MSA. Other than that, many of crime ridden MSA are those cities hit hard by real estate market decline and subsequent economic slow down as financial difficulty tend to cause crimes. Other notable thing is about high rank of traditionally poor southern cities such as Memphis、Charleston、 Nashville、New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

For the comparison, below is the list of cities (not MSA) with 300,000+ population on violent crimes per 100,000 residents.

City Violent Crime per 100000
DETROIT 1,092
ST. LOUIS 1,086
OAKLAND 965
MEMPHIS 958
KANSAS CITY 889
BALTIMORE 780
ATLANTA 767
NASHVILLE 747
PHILADELPHIA 722
MINNEAPOLIS 715
STOCKTON 702
MIAMI 700
MILWAUKEE 699
CLEVELAND 697
BOSTON 576
TULSA 564
SACRAMENTO 560
PITTSBURGH 556
TAMPA 546
HOUSTON 535
DALLAS 526
CINCINNATI 505
"LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN
POLICE DEPARTMENT " 502
JACKSONVILLE 495
CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG 445
COLUMBUS 422
SAN FRANCISCO 404
OKLAHOMA CITY 389
TUCSON4 382
PHOENIX 368
LOS ANGELES 356
LONG BEACH 350
ARLINGTON 350
PORTLAND 329
RIVERSIDE 327
LOUISVILLE METRO 326
FORT WORTH 325
FRESNO 324
DENVER 315
SANTA ANA 306
BAKERSFIELD 297
NEW YORK 291
OMAHA 289
AURORA 278
SAN ANTONIO 276
RALEIGH 274
COLORADO SPRINGS 262
SAN DIEGO 243
MESA 240
ANAHEIM 216
SAN JOSE 207
EL PASO 199
HONOLULU 148
VIRGINIA BEACH 115
CHICAGO #VALUE!

Lastly, below is 2007 Top 25 "safe" cities (mostly over 100K population). Those are very recognized middle class neighborhood.

City Violent Crime per 100000
IRVINE 35
BELLEVUE 55
THOUSAND OAKS 56
CARY 58
AMHERST TOWN 58
PROVO 60
GILBERT 61
SUNNYVALE 63
SIMI VALLEY 69
NORMAN 81
CENTENNIAL 84
GLENDALE 86
SCOTTSDALE 86
CARROLLTON 88
HUNTINGTON BEACH 92
OVERLAND PARK 94
EDISON TOWNSHIP 98
SANTA CLARA 100
ORANGE 102
RANCHO CUCAMONGA 102
ARVADA 105
MCKINNEY 106
SANTA CLARITA 106
CORAL SPRINGS 107
STERLING HEIGHTS 108

In US, you have to pay for the safety. During recession, real estate decline in dangerous areas tend to accelarate. In my experience, unless you are professional slumlord, I would not recommend the properties in bad neghborhood. Good tenants do not live in crime ridden areas --- you will be stuck with low quality tenants who tend to trash the properties and come up with ridiculous excuse not pay rent on time.

Happy Investing!!!!

10 Winners in the Recession - USnews.com

Very interesting article about "10 Winners in the Recession" by US News & World Report.

Here is top 10:

1. Home Gardening

2. Hollywood

3. Bodice Rippers

4. Condom Makers

5. Résumé Editing

6. Public Universities

7. Chocolate

8. McDonald's

9. Career Development Websites

10. At-Home Coffee Brews

Whenever there is change, there always are winners who can seize the opportunities!

Happy Investing!!!

Top 250 US Wealth Centers

This ranking is from Business Journal about wealthy town in USA. This ranking exclude wealthy neighborhoods in large cities (such Beverly Hills) so I think it is incomplete. But it is good data to know.

Here is Top 10 towns!

1. McLean, Va.
No U.S. city enjoys a wider range of affluence. Typical household income is $156,292. Typical home is worth $863,700.

2. Lake Forest, Ill.
Five percent of households in this Chicago suburb have annual incomes in excess of $1.15 million. Median is $150,670.

3. Saratoga, Calif.
Residents of this San Jose suburb love to drive. One-seventh of all households have four or more vehicles, leading the top 10.

4. Potomac, Md.
Sits across Potomac River from top-rated McLean. Has top 10’s biggest share of large homes: 55 percent have nine-plus rooms.

5. Darien, Conn.
Leads the nation in per capita income at $97,047, which is nearly four times the national average of $26,178.

6. Westport, Conn.
Unsurprisingly similar to Darien, eight miles away. Per capita income is a shade lower (though still very high) at $90,034.

7. Garden City, N.Y.
One of only nine U.S. communities where more than 35 percent of all households have annual incomes above $200,000.

8. Mountain Brook, Ala.
Education levels are higher here than anywhere else in the top 10. Eighty-one percent of adults hold college degrees.

9. Los Altos, Calif.
Located 12 miles northwest of No. 3 Saratoga. Median household income of $158,745 is third-highest in all of America.

10. La Canada Flintridge, Calif.
Million-dollar homes are common in the Los Angeles area’s top entry. Twelve percent of households have at least four vehicles.

These are towns with HNWI (high net worth individual) thus real estate seems to hold fairly steady in these towns. If you have $1 million in downpayment, it maybe very secure investment.

Happy Investing!!!

UT Austin is Ranked No. 2 Party School!

Let's invest in College Town!

I guess Any publicity is good publicity. University of Texas at Austin is located in the center of Austin Tx and is playing key role making Austin one of the best place for job growth and business. I believe UT is also characterized by Austin's exciting night life and bikini-wearing weather.

Playboy has introduced Top 10 Party School 2009, ranking UT Austin No.2 among all US colleges.

Here is the list of Top 10 Party Schools:

#1 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
#2 UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
#3 SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
#4 UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
#5 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
#6 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON
#7 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
#8 LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
#9 UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
#10 WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

Investing in college town is always good real estate investment strategy. But it offers additional benefit ----- enjoying party during business trip!

Happy Investing!!!

Existing Home Sales Data Mar 2009 - What does it means?

I have posted Real Estate related data and its relationship with Economy a few days ago.

NAR (National Association of Realtor) has announced March 2009 existing home sales, One of the key real estate related data as follows:

- Compared to March 2008, sales price has gone down by 12%. Compared to previous month, mediam price has increased to $175,200 from $168,200.

- Number of transactions have declined by -12% (seasonally adjusted) and -7.1% compared to Feb 2009 and Mar 2008 respectively.

- Pushed by $8000 tax credit and low interest rate, first time home buyer represents 53% of total transaction (it is usually at around 20% in regular market).

- As for the inventory, it has increased to 9.8 month, compared to 9.7 month in Feb 2009.

From this data, it is hard to conclude that real estate market hit the bottom while seasonally-adjusted transaction has increased to 4,570,000 from all-time-low 4,490,000 in January 2009.

One critical issue that characterize today's market is 53% of transactions is from first time home buyers. This shows how tax credit and low-down FHA loan is boosting demand among first time home buyers who were priced out during housing bubble.

Problem is, since first time home buyers, in average, put at or less than 5% down payment, in case of job loss or continued real estate decline, its mortgage's default rate is very high. In fact, it is said that default rate on FHA loan among first 3 years is about 20% range.

In regular market, move-up buyers represent 50%+ of total transactions. But many existing home owners can not sell the property due to negative equity situation. This contributes to dangerously high first time home owner oriented market. In fact, US Census just report that More in U.S. Are Staying Put.

I am not sure how long first time home buyers can drive residential real estate market as Tax Credit will expire on November 31st 2009. Unless existing home owners are back in market, real estate transaction may begin to slow down.

The other issue is inventory of properties. For last 5-6 month, lenders were encouraged by government to stop foreclosures, until Obama's housing affordability program is in place. Now that plan is announced, lenders accelerated foreclosure process. In addition, experts forecast that there are 600,000 - 1,500,000 shadow inventory of foreclosed properties. This pretty much guarantees that glut of foreclosure properties will continuously hit the markets at discounted price. While it depends on markets, you still have time to evaluate entry timing!

Happy Investing!!!!!

Why Home Equity Credit Lines Are Drying Up

As most of readers know, HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) is line of credit against equity of your residence. During real estate bubble era (= easy credit time), HELOC was US citizen's second wallet. Combined with cash-out refinancing, MEW (Mortgage Equity Withdral) was a key driver for US economy.



However, as value of the house declined sharply, HELOC was often cancelled or reduced dramatically.

While HELOC was one of the reason real estate bust, it is very convinient tool for emargency fund (unless you spend all on luxury car or exotic travel).

This is article from New York Time about status of HELOC.

Why Credit Lines Are Drying Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/realestate/19mort.html

Summary is:

- Lender used to offer HELOC at or below Prime Rate (currently at 3.25%). However, its bottom rate is capped at around 5%, higher than existing 30 year mortgage rate (at around 4.85%). In the risky market like California or Nevada, this can go up higher.

- Lending guideline is quite tight - 1) 2+ year documented salary; 2) minimum 20% equity on tight appraisal (30%+ for declining market); 3) 720+ credit score; 4) debt to income including HELOC has to be 31% of documented income.

While rate is not as favorable as before, I think keeping HELOC is good idea to prepare for emergency. Additional benefit is that having unutilized HELCO has position impact on your credit score (= low credit line utilization).

For those who have HELOC at or below prime rate, you are lucky one! However, please be careful. Especially at declining market or with negative credit reporting, you may lose all or some equity line. If you know you need HELOC money in near future, it is safe to cash it and keep in your saving account.

Happy Investing!!!!!!

Austin job picture brightens a bit.

In previous posting, I wrote about the fact that Austin Tx was chosen as the best city for job growth. This is article from Austin American Statesman about the latest job growth data and here is summary:

- Austin's unemployment rate has gone down to 6.2% in March 2009 from 6.5% and 6.3% in January and February respectively (U.S. and Texas average in March is 8.5% and 6.7% respectively).

- Employment has growing 0.4% in annualized basis. In February 2009, it posted job growth of 0.2% ---- making Austin only one place with positive job growth among Top 50 metropolitan area.

While is not outstanding, it is quite obvious that Austin's economy and employment is "steady" and one of the best among US metropolitan areas.

Happy Investing in Austin!!!!　

As Housing Market Dips, More in U.S. Are Staying Put.

NYT- article... "Housing Market Dips, More in US Are Staying Put".

So many homeowners have negative equity. Walking away only options?

Real Estate related data and its relationship with Economy.

I have posted about Real Estate Risk Index last week. This report also had very interesting analysis regarding real estate data and its relationship with economy.

A figure denoted with a plus sign means that the trough in that measure occurred after the end of the recession – with the number signifying the number of months past the economic trough. A minus sign denotes a bottom before the end of the recession. A minus sign denotes a bottom before the end of the recession. In every case, each of the housing-related measures bottomed before the end of the recession, with single-family existing sales averaging four months, new sales eight months, and single-family starts seven months. Job-related data, on the other hand, at best are contemporaneous with the end of an economic downturn, but more often lag the economic trough. Moreover, in each of the past two recessions, the national unemployment rate didn’t peak until more than a year after the recession ended.

Unemployment： +6 month
Payroll Employment： +4 month
Existing Home Transaction： -4 month
New Home Transaction： -8 month
New Housing Starts：-7 month

Based on this analysis, let's look at the most recent data as follows:

1. Existing Home Transaction

- Below is the data to February 2009. Compared to January 2009, # of transactions has increased by +8.9%, but, compared to February 2008, it has declined by -10.3%. It is possible that January 2009 is the bottom of the market but we have to continuously monitor this number. Realtor.org will introduce March 2009 number on April 25th 2009.

- Far right figure is Inventory/month (how long it takes to sell existing "for sales" properties). It is good to know that inventory has declined from peak 11.3 month but it has long way to "healthy balanced market" of 6 month inventory. As rush of foreclosure will continue and there are massive shadow inventory, I believe price will continue to decline for a while.


Year Month Transaction Inventory/Month
2008 Feb 312,000 9.7
2008 Mar 375,000 10.0
2008 Apr 434,000 11.3
2008 May 483,000 10.9
2008 Jun 504,000 11.0
2008 Jul 504,000 11.0
2008 Aug 489,000 10.6
2008 Sept 438,000 10.1
2008 Oct 413,000 10.2
2008 Nov 322,000 11.0
2008 Dec 361,000 9.4
2009 Jan r 257,000 9.7
2009 Feb p 280,000 9.7
vs. last month: 8.9%
vs. last year: -10.3%

2.　New Home Transaction

- While it has dropped to 27,000 units in Feburuary 2009 (-44% declined compared to February 2008), it has increased by 17% compared to January 2009. It maybe bottomed in January 2009 though continuous monitoring of the future data is required.

- Regarding inventory, it has gone down t0 12 month (from peak of 14.6 month). It has long way to go down to 6 month "balanced" market inventory. Thus price is likely to go down for a while.



Year Month Transaction(,000) Inventory/Month
2008: February 48 9.9
2008: March 49 9.5
2008: April 49 9.3
2008: May 49 9.3
2008: June 45 9.6
2008: July 43 9.8
2008: August 38 10.8
2008: September 35 11.4
2008: October 32 12.0
2008: Novemberr 27 13.6
2008: Decemberr 26 13.6
2009: Januaryr 23 14.6
2009: Februaryp 27 12.0
Vs. Feb 2008 -44%
Vs. Jan 2009 17%

3.　New Home Starts (1 unit only)

- It has gone down to 21,800 units in January 2009 but start going up in February/March 2009. The bottom maybe hit in January 2009.

- While I will post separate analysis, as of today, it is said that 3 million to 5 million excess units exist due to over-building of bubble era. While this many excess inventory exists, I do not see major recovery in housing starts for 2-3 years.


Month Year Starts (,000)
Jan 2008 47.5
Feb 2008 47.5
Mar 2008 53.6
Apr 2008 62.7
May 2008 61.1
Jun 2008 58.7
Jul 2008 55.0
Aug 2008 47.4
Sep 2008 45.3
Oct 2008 39.9
Nov 2008 25.9
Dec 2008 24.2
Jan 2009 21.8
Feb 2009 25.9
Mar 2009 32.1
Vs. March 2008 -40%
Vs. Feb 2009 24%

To summarize, housing market's bottom may be hit in January 2009 while this has to be verified by March/April results. This may mean that economy may hit bottom in June - August 2009.

However, hitting bottom does not mean rapid recovery of housing market.

Do you think Unemployment and Payroll Employment start increase in late 2009 / early 2010?

Happy Investing!!!!!

America's Most Foreclosure-Ridden Towns.

"List" from Forbes.com --- since this data is by municipal basis, "EXURB" are ranked very high. Is Exurb new slum?

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/21/foreclosure-mortgage-homes-lifestyle-real-estate-foreclosed-homes.html

Can artist change the decline of real estate in Rust Belt?

Interesting article from Wall Street Journal on Cleveland's efforts to offering empty houses to artist to rejuvenate declining neighborhood.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992318352327147.html

Where are best cities for job growth?

As unemployment in US is getting worse every month, many economists predict that it will eventually exceed 10%. If you include under-employed workers and those who quite the job search, it is already exceeding 15%! However, as US economy is very diverse, each cities have different employment situations.

Here is the data about "Where are best cities for job growth?", compiled by www.newgeography.com, excellent website with provocative thoughts on city planning.

They indexed 333 metropolitan area and provided ranking. Their methodology is listed below --- those metros that performed well in the past tend to have better ranking.

The index is calculated from a normalized, weighted summary of: 1) recent growth trend: the current and prior year's employment growth rates, with the current year emphasized (two points); 2) mid-term growth: the average annual 2003-2008 growth rate (two points); 3) long-term trend: the sum of the 2003-2008 and 1998-2002 employment growth rates multiplied by the ratio of the 1998-2002 growth rate over the 2003-2008 growth rate (two points); and 4) current year growth (one point).

Here is the ranking among large metropolitan areas:

- Austin Tx, my top investment locatoin, is No.1 in the ranking.

- Other Texas metros are ranked 2, 3, 4 & 5 --- I guess "Era of Texas" is about to begin!

- Seattle and Portland have been ranked among Top 10 but I believe this is more to do with their good job related performance in the past. In fact, unemployment of Portland and Seattle has gone up to 12.1% and 8.8% respectively, almost doubled from year earlier. Since Seattle and Portalnd economy is primarily driven by inflow of California resident and business, they will not be such great place for jobs for next 1 year or so.

- California metros such as Los Angeles-Long Beach、Riverside-San Bernardino、Sacramento、Oakland、Orange County are ranked among worst 10. This is one of the reason why I think Southern and Inland California has long way to hit bottom in real estate price.

- Other worst markets are Rust Belt cities in Ohio and Michigan (Detroit is worst) and bubble-popped Florida metros.

Rank	Metropolita Area	2009 INDEX
1	Austin-Round Rock, TX	87.7
2	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX	85.4
3	San Antonio, TX	82.0
4	Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Division	78.3
5	Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division	78.0
6	Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division	77.2
7	Salt Lake City, UT	76.5
8	Raleigh-Cary, NC	74.6
9	Oklahoma City, OK	72.9
10	Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA	70.0
11	Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA	66.8
12	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Division	66.6
13	Northern Virginia, VA	65.0
14	New York City, NY	62.3
15	Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO	58.5
16	Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA NECTA Division	56.1
17	Putnam-Rockland-Westchester, NY	55.7
18	Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC	55.5
19	Honolulu, HI	54.0
20	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	53.6
21	Rochester, NY	53.2
22	Las Vegas-Paradise, NV	52.5
23	San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA Metropolitan Division	51.6
24	Bethesda-Frederick-Rockville, MD Metropolitan Division	51.5
25	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	50.1
26	Orlando-Kissimmee, FL	49.8
27	Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC	48.5
28	Kansas City, MO	48.3
29	Pittsburgh, PA	47.6
30	Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY	47.1
31	Philadelphia City, PA	46.6
32	Columbus, OH	46.4
33	St. Louis, MO-IL	46.3
34	Nassau-Suffolk, NY Metropolitan Division	46.2
35	Indianapolis-Carmel, IN	44.3
36	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT NECTA	44.2
37	Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN	42.7
38	Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN	42.5
39	San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA	42.4
40	Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division	41.6
41	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA	41.6
42	Richmond, VA	41.6
43	Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	41.4
44	Jacksonville, FL	40.9
45	New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA	39.5
46	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	39.2
47	Newark-Union, NJ-PA Metropolitan Division	38.5
48	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	38.3
49	Birmingham-Hoover, AL	37.9
50	Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL Metropolitan Division	37.2
51	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI	37.0
52	Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL Metropolitan Division	37.0
53	Bergen-Hudson-Passaic, NJ	36.5
54	Edison-New Brunswick, NJ Metropolitan Division	34.4
55	Camden, NJ Metropolitan Division	32.9
56	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division	32.6
57	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	31.5
58	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	31.2
59	Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI Metropolitan Division	29.4
60	Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, CA	28.8
61	West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, FL Metropolitan Division	28.2
62	Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Division	27.1
63	Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA Metropolitan Division	26.2
64	Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH	24.4
65	Providence-Fall River-Warwick, RI-MA NECTA	21.7
66	Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Division	8.9

Job is one of the key data to determine the health of real estate markets. Good job growth leads to increased population -> increased demand on rental and purchase properties -> increased rent and sales price. And umemployment leads to rise of those who can not pay rent or mortgage -> increased evictions and foreclosure -> depressed rent and purchase price. It is critical to monitor these data to forecast local real estate market!

Happy Investing!!!!