McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

March 21, 2008

Real estate association says business OK in state

By Jeremy Higgins

The housing market in Oklahoma is good.

According to the Oklahoma Association of Realtors, whose Southeastern Oklahoma group met recently at the McAlester campus of Kiamichi Technology Center, it is currently both a buyer’s and seller’s market.

While the real estate scene may be in a bad spot around the United States, the market in Oklahoma is stronger than ever, according to OAR.

The OAR has recently launched a statewide initiative to present the facts about home ownership in Oklahoma and the value of real estate as a long-term investment.

“OAR’s ‘Good Thing You’re in Oklahoma’ campaign has been developed to provide current, relevant data about the Oklahoma housing market that will be useful to consumers who are in the market to buy or sell a home,” the OAR reported.

According to Tammy McCullar, OAR president, the Association’s leadership team moved to create the campaign in response to some of the national media reports about the U.S. housing market.

“Real estate is local,” McCullar said. “Oklahomans are not buying or selling their homes in a national housing market. Our campaign is designed to present the facts about the Oklahoma housing market, which remains an affordable, stable and secure source of value as a long-term investment.”

Home values in Oklahoma increased by 4.2 percent in 2007, according to a report by the OAR. Last year was the seventh consecutive year that the average sale price of a pre-existing home had increased in Oklahoma.

A report from the National Association of Realtors showed a decline of 1.4 percent in national home value at the end of 2007. Oklahoma home values have increased an average of 4.88 percent per year since 2000, resulting in a nearly 40 percent increase in home values, according to the ORA.

“As exciting as turning a quick profit may be to some investors, we’re convinced that slow and steady wins the race every time when it comes to the security and stability of real estate investment as evidence by Oklahoma’s numbers,” McCullar said.

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