Front page of the Sunday News Journal featured an article by Eric Ruth on Housing market gains in Delaware. Some of the statistics are still tentative but one fact is clear - Delaware weathered the housing turmoil better than many other parts of the country. Prices have begun to inch up again and builders are pulling permits. Sales of all homes - existing and new are up 34% in Sussex County, the southernmost part of Delaware.
"The coastal Sussex County market is still driven by retirees," as Ruth quoted Chris Schell, president of Schell Brothers. "Even if it's not a retirement community or an active adult community, you're still selling almost all your homes to retirees. That was not true in the housing boom - it was mostly investors and second-home buyers."
In a companion article, Wade Malcolm reports that the recovery of lost home equity will take many years for those who bought at the peak. Again, Delawareans are doing better than the national statistics. Only 14.3% of Delawareans have negative equity vs. the Nationwide rate of 23.8% .