Housing "immunozones" getting hit

According to The New York Times, America's housing "immunozones" are continuing to suffer home price declines, even as some of the early crash cities start to recover:

The rolling real estate crash that ravaged Florida and the Southwest is delivering a new wave of distress to communities once thought to be immune — economically diversified cities where the boom was relatively restrained.

In the last year, home prices in Seattle had a bigger decline than in Las Vegas. Minneapolis dropped more than Miami, and Atlanta fared worse than Phoenix.

The bubble markets, where builders, buyers and banks ran wild, began falling first, economists say, so they are close to the end of the cycle and in some cases on their way back up. Nearly everyone else still has another season of pain.

With that in mind, here's a home price graph for my local Washington, DC housing market. The city of Washington, DC has seen median home prices fall $65,000 (15%) since the peak, and they're still sliding down slowly.

Washington, DC has been the most immune of the immunozones due to its ability to suck on the federal government's teat. What's the biggest threat to that teat? Senator Rand Paul.