What’s so special about Cumberland, MD-WV? This energetic, small town is one of a select number of cities around the country that appears to be weathering the housing storm. While in many metropolitan areas housing prices are either stabilizing or are on a downward spiral, Cumberland’s market continues to climb. One indicator of prices, the OFHEO Housing Price Index, shows a growth rate of nearly 11% for the last year. The market is also still quite affordable. Over 80% of the households in that area with the city’s median income can afford homes that are currently up for sale.

Hot housing markets can also be found in large parts of Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and other more localized areas of the country. Below is a heat map showing those hot spots. The cities used to generate the map include those whose OFHEO’s Housing Price index has risen over the last year and Wells Fargo/NAHB Housing Opportunity Index is currently above the national average of 40%. A normalized index was created to weight cities based on their relative ranking on both criteria. Cumberland comes out at the top of the pack.

Hot Housing Markets

Other notable cities on the list include:

The Gazelle: Housing prices in Midland, TX are surging. Over the last year, that city’s OFHEO HPI rose by 12.5%, which is the the higest growth rate out of all cities on the list. On the downside, the market appears to be out of reach for many who live in that city. It’s HOI is only 41.2 and declining.

Best on a Budget: The most affordable market on the list with an HOI of 87.5 is Indianapolis, IN. Prices in this market though, have risen at only a modest rate in the past year. The city’s HPI grew by just .7%.

Big City Sizzler: Austin, TX is one of the larger metro areas on the list whose housing prices are growing at a relatively high rate and it’s housing remains more affordable than the national average. This 16th most populated city’s HPI increased 7.2% and it’s HOI is currently around 53.1.

Housing Price Indices, Housing Opportunity Indices and other market attributes for all 76 cities on the list are available for interactive mapping at geocommons.

Popularity: 14% [?]

We’ve been doing work recently integrating GeoServer with GeoCommons to provide more hooks and capabilities for our platform. I was catching up reading the GeoServer blog and saw a new demo they had going to demonstrate their map annotations tools in development.

The map only has a base street map for NYC, but the annotation features and presentation is quite nice. You can add annotations and pictures to the map and all works very smoothly. The ability to create annotations and layer them on top of structured data like crime rates or toxic release points is very compelling. Then users can not only see where a statistical phenomenon is happening but also comment, including confirmation or criticism. For instance add a photo of dead fish in green bubbling ooze at a toxic release point.

We had some fun with the concept about a year ago after a trip to NYC mapping the location of bars and single women then testing out the hot spots. Less altruistic than the example above but again demonstrates the value of adding qualitative comments to quantitative data. For fun I added the heat map we made of the bars and singles to the GeoServer demo. If you go to the lower east side it is the yellow marker on 6th St.

Look forward to seeing if we can make use of the new GeoServer collaboration tools and props to them for all the good work.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Obama campaign has spent well over $44.5 million in the first nine months of 2007 in over 600 cities and 1200 zipcode areas across the lower 48 states. The top five states account for nearly 64% of the money spent. These are:
1. IL $11.9 million
2. MA $3.9 million
3. PA $3.6 million
4. WI $3.2 million
5. NC $3.1 million
6. DC $2.5 million

The first-in-the-nation caucus state Iowa ranks 7th with $2.4 million spent, while the-first-in-the-nation primary state New Hampshire ranks 10th with $1.3 million spending while the first-in-the-south primary state South Carolina is 15th with over $730 thousand.

The top five services cost them 52% of their spending and these are:
1. Payroll $7.9 million
2. Travel/Lodging $5.0 million
3. Payroll Taxes $3.7 million
4. Telemarketing $3.4 million
5. Media Buy $3.3 million

Thefive cities where they spent the most money are:
1. Chicago, IL $6.4 million (Payroll, office etc)
2. Elk Grove, MA $3.8 million (Payroll taxes)
3. Philadelphia, PA $3.6 million (Media buy)
4. Cambridge, MA $3.4 million (Telemarketing)
5. Milwaukee, WI $3.2 million (Mailing, Printing, Postage etc)
These five cities account for 45% of the total spending. Des Moines, IA with just over $1.3 million and Manchester, NH with $816 thousand rank 9th and 12th respectively.

Obama campaign spending

Obama campaign spending: Jan-Sep, 2007, originally uploaded by rajkulkarni63.

Explore campaign spending data/maps for Obama and other Presidential candidates from both parties on GeoCommons by using keywords Campaign Spending or Campaign Finance

Note: Campaign spending $ amounts are based on Line SB23s from the quarterly campaign finance reports filed by each candidate with the Federal Election Commission where Line SB23 lists each and every item/service costing few pennies to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The data was downloaded the week following 15th Oct, 2007 when it was published by FEC. Campaigns are known to update these reports to reflect modified records.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Clinton campaign spent nearly $38 million (see the note at end) in nearly 1200 zipcode area in over 600 cities across the lower 48 states. The five states ranked in terms of the highest spending are:
1. DC $7.8 million
2. VA $6.5 million
3. NJ $3.9 million
4. UT $3.3 million
5. CA $2.9 million
These five states together account for nearly 64% of the spending.
Iowa with $1.7 million comes in at 7th after New York ($2.0 million) and New Hampshire is 10th (more than $900 thousand).

The five services totaling over $18 million (47% of the total funds spent)
for which the most money was spent:
1. Payroll $7.2 million
2. Payroll taxes $3.9 million
3. Postage $2.5 million
4. Travel $2.4 million
5. Event/Catering $2.1 million

The top five cities again account for 47% spending and they are are:
1. Washington, D.C $7.7 million (Salary and sundry expenses)
2. Ogden, UT $3.3 million (Payroll service/taxes)
3. Alexandria, VA $2.6 million (Salary)
4. Springfield, VA $2.3 million (Postage)
5. Newark, NJ $2.1 million (Credit card payments).

DeMoine, IA with just over $1 million and Concord, NH ($358 thousand) are
ranked 9th and 13th respectively.

Clinton campaign spending: Jan-Sep, 2007

Clinton campaign’s spending: Jan-Sep, 2007, originally uploaded by rajkulkarni63.

Explore campaign spending data/maps for Clinton and other Presidential candidates from both parties on GeoCommons by using keywords Campaign Spending or Campaign Finance.

Note: Campaign spending $ amounts are based on Line SB23s from the quarterly campaign finance reports filed by each candidate with the Federal Election Commission where Line SB23 lists each and every item/service costing few pennies to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The data was downloaded the week following 15th Oct, 2007 when it was published by FEC. Campaigns are known to update these reports to reflect modified records.

Popularity: 7% [?]