Bankrate's forecast for the changing real estate market

Bankrate.com has unveiled its forecast for the changing real estate market in the U.S. over the next few years — the top ten markets where housing prices and values will continue to remain strong, ten markets where appreciation will pretty much top out and the ten markets that are most likely to experience a decline.

They talked to experts, studied public and private databases, analyzed market trends and examined the analyses of many others. The results are follow.

The ten "bubble blowers," where appreciation should continue to grow:

• Boise (ID)
• El Paso (TX)
• Albuquerque (NM)
• Seattle (WA)/Portland (OR)
• Salt Lake City (UT)
• Raleigh (NC)
• Philadelphia (PA)
• Atlanta (GA)
• Little Rock (AR)
• Cincinnati (OH)/Birmingham (AL) (they were too close to call)

The ten "bubble sitters," where appreciation may have peaked:

• WASHINGTON (DC)
• Ft. Myers/Cape Coral (FL)
• Chicago (IL)
• Honolulu (HI)
• Tucson (AZ)
• San Francisco (CA)
• Detroit (MI)
• Minneapolis (MN)
• Baltimore (MD)
• Denver (CO)

The ten "bubble busters," where values are expected to decline:

• Las Vegas (NV)
• Sacramento (CA)
• Phoenix (AZ)
• Boston (MA)
• Los Angeles (CA)
• Naples (FL)
• Miami/Ft. Lauderdale (FL)
• Edison (NJ)
• Newark (NJ)
• Nassau/Suffolk (NY)

You'll probably notice that Washington, D.C., tops the "Bubble Sitters" list, indicating that prices may have topped out for a while. So while other markets will continue to experience robust appreciation and others will decline, Bankrate.com appears to think that the DC market may stabilize somewhat from the hyper-inflation we've experienced over the last few years.

OK. Well. This is what many of us in the DC market have been saying for a while — though this position was not as sexy as all the sky-is-falling articles in the Washington Post and and hysterical Fox News reports. Seems we're poised for what forecasters are calling a "soft landing."

Whew.

That said, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that not *all* is well with the DC real estate market. Seems that there's a rapidly increasing inventory of condo units on the market. If you're looking to buy one of those sexy new condos where the developer is offering all sorts of groovy percs (closing cost assistance, REALTOR bonuses, free plasma screen TVs, free wireless Internet), you may want to tread carefully. If you're going to hold onto this potential unit for 5-8-10 years, you'll probably be in good shape. If you're in a job position where you have the potential of being transferred, or if you'll otherwise be in DC for a limited time — hey, DC can be a transient sort of place — think twice. Renting isn't awful. Or, you might consider a single-family home or townhome in a less sexy location.