The National Association of Realtors made news when it announced that home prices were expected to drop this year for the first time since it started tracking them in the late 1960s.

    On the positive side, the NAR also estimated that roughly 75 percent of markets across the nation could still see a narrow increase in median sale prices this year, though these small gains will be countered by steeper losses in the more volatile markets that experienced huge gains in 2004 and 2005.

    Fort Wayne and other historically stable housing markets in the Midwest probably will not experience wild swings in housing prices, though home prices are trending downward, according to experts.

    From March 2006 to March 2007, the average sale price for a home in Allen County dropped 5.94 percent, from $115,734 to $109,244, according to Fort Wayne Area Association of Realtors statistics. Total dollar volume for Allen County home sales during that period decreased more than 57 percent, from $59.7 million to $38 million, according to the FWAAR data.

    As of March, the year-to-date number of units sold in Allen County dropped from 1,186 last year to 995 this year, a change of 16.1 percent.

    “I am hopeful that this is just a slight market adjustment. The Midwest has been a stable real estate market historically,” said Clay Weir of Century 21 Bradley Realty in Fort Wayne. “I believe that the branding initiative and the promotion of Fort Wayne is moving Fort Wayne forward. This is a great place to live.”

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