Home prices to take a hike in Mobile, Alabama, report said

MOBILE, Alabama -- Mobile has been tapped by 24/7 Wall Street as one of 10 metropolitan areas where home prices will see the greatest bounce back next year.

Local home prices are expected to increase 6.2 percent from the second quarter of 2011 to the second quarter 2012, according to the New York-based online financial news and opinion firm, which surveyed 384 metro areas to compile its list.

Six of the 10 areas listed were also among the 50 areas that experienced the worst housing price declines from the second quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2011, the report showed. The report indicated that home prices in Mobile dropped more than 27 percent during that period, with the biggest fall -- 18.8 percent -- coming between 2010 and 2011.

Jeff Newman, executive director of the Mobile Area Association of Realtors, disputed the large falloff.

"I don't think 18.8 percent is accurate," he said, adding that area homes price decreases had been in the range of 10 percent to 11 percent for the several years.

He did agree that the market is on the rebound due to "excellent prices, extremely low interest rates and positive business atmosphere."

In making its list, 24/7 Wall St. said that it considered projected price increases, population, when the metro areas reached their price peaks, and unemployment rates.