CA Study Shows Effect of Housing Crash on Columbia's Home Values

The good news in Columbia Association's recently released real estate study is that home values in Columbia's villages increased by 84 percent between 2000 and 2010.

That increase was just above the 82 percent increase in home values countywide, during the same 10-year period.

The increases, however, were tempered by the housing spiral, which began in late 2007 and continued to erode home values nationally until 2010.

During that period, home values in Columbia dropped by about $40,000 on average, according to the CA study. By 2010 the average home value in Columbia was $326,516 compared to $374,560 in 2007.

Check out the graphs and charts above for more detailed information.

Among the Columbia villages, Hickory Ridge's homes are the most expensive, selling for about $422,000 on average in 2010, followed closely by River Hill, where homes sold for $421,000 on average that year, according to the study.

Long Reach's homes, which sold for an average of $290,000, and Town Center, at about $240,000, were the least expensive of Columbia's villages to buy a house in 2010.

In 2008 and 2009, the worst period of the housing crisis, housing prices in every village declined, except for River Hill, Town Center and Wilde Lake in 2008. However, those three villages experienced declines in values in 2010, as housing values in other villages such as Dorsey Search and Hickory Ridge began to bounce back.

By now, the bounce back in real estate values is being experienced nationwide, with prices increasing between 6 to 7 percent per year, according to Forbes.com. However, that article notes this could mean trouble, as the increase rate is similar to that experienced before the housing bubble burst, even though prices are still about 30 percent below what they were when the deterioration began.

The study was commissioned by Columbia Association to analyze home values in the city. The Cheseapeake Group Inc. handled the project using statistics from Maryland's Real Estate Information databases.