The Texas Condition: "What we're seeing develop in the marketplace is the haves and the have-nots,"

Haves, have-nots split housing market
Smaller mortgages falling to foreclosures as high-end sales climb
11:20 PM CST on Friday, January 20, 2006
By BRENDAN M. CASE, STEVE BROWN and IEVA M. AUGSTUMS / The Dallas Morning News
In a healthy local housing market, a sign of trouble has appeared: More people are losing their homes to foreclosure than at any time since the Texas real estate bust of the 1980s.
The causes run from bad luck to bad financial decisions: job loss, divorce, a health crisis, skyrocketing energy bills, out-of-control credit card debt, or a mortgage payment that turned out to be unaffordable.
Fourth-quarter Home Sales
Price by percentage change
Sales by percentage change
But there also seems to be a sharpening contrast between real estate markets at either end of the economic ladder.
As residential foreclosures jumped 30 percent from a year ago in North Texas, the average mortgage on foreclosed houses fell to $129,000, compared with almost $146,000 a year ago.
Meanwhile, home sales set records last year, with a strong 20 percent increase in sales of homes priced over $400,000. But there was a 4 percent decrease in sales of homes priced below $110,000.
"What we're seeing develop in the marketplace is the haves and the have-nots," said Craig Jarrell, who heads up the Dallas operations of Pulaski Mortgage Co.
"Either you've got money and you've got a job and you're buying a new house and you're rocking along," he said. "Or you're underwater and can't buy a new house, and can't afford the one you're in and you're going into foreclosure."
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/012106dnbushousing.21943f21.html