CoreLogic has recently released its findings from an analysis of 100 of the country’s top real estate markets to determine which areas are either “undervalued”, “at value” or “overvalued”. By comparing how income growth aligns with rising home prices, this report looks to determine if price growth can be sustained in the long run.

So what did they find? 40% of the metropolitan areas studied were considered overvalued using their model. This includes Las Vegas, Denver, LA, Miami, Washington DC, New York, Jersey City and Houston.

Boston, Chicago and San Francisco (can you believe it?) are considered to be at value.

With the struggle to find buildable land to boost inventory to meet demand, it is not a shock the Seattle Metro falls in the overvalued category. Spokane and Tri-cities are both considered at value, while Yakima is a winner for buyers as the only undervalued area north of Chico, CA and west of Casper, WY. (On a side note, it’s also home to James Beard award-winning tamales, so there’s that).

Does this mean we’re all doomed? No, probably not. Let’s not forget how strong our economy is right now when looking at key indicators like job growth and in-migration. While price growth will likely stabilize as more inventory comes on the market, this isn’t looking like 2007 all over again.

Fill out the form on CoreLogic’s website to view the free report.

Just for fun (and because I must secretly hate sunshine), I decided to use the information from the report Paul mentions above and compare it to an article I read in the PI from a few weeks back. My question was, “if our market conditions are pushing people out to other areas, how do those areas stack up in the CoreLogic report?”

What I found was every market mentioned in the PI story was also considered overvalued to CoreLogic, with the exception of San Diego and Chicago (“at value”). San Francisco proper is technically at value, however, most people from here would be moving to Silicon Valley and the East Bay (both overvalued), wouldn’t they?

So even though Seattle’s prices are toward the top in the country, is leaving really solving the problem in the long run if prices still outpace income where you’re going?