Will Property Appreciate in 2011?

If you are to believe, without question, some of these reports and forecasts, like the one issued in the last week by Veros Real Estate Solutions, property appreciation is expected in some 40 percent of major metropolitan areas. Veros expects a 2.5-3.5 percent appreciation on home values in 2011.

If you’re in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa, and most of the Midwest, you apparently have happy days ahead in terms of appreciation. However, places like Florida and Nevada will still continue to see the greatest depreciation of any U.S. markets.

No one has a magic crystal ball of what will happen in real estate in 2011 or beyond. However, I’m seeing a lot more reports and predictions that there will be flat growth in real estate values. A few have even boldly said depreciation could continue by as much as 5 percent before bottoming out.

The point is don’t paralyze yourselves by this potentially bad news. Everyone still needs to live somewhere, deals will still happen, people will still need to relocate or want to buy investment properties. Be more concerned about doing all the things you need to do to stay on top of changes in the industry and new and effective ways to market yourselves and your listings. These are the things you can control.