Local [tag]real-estate[/tag] experts and builders have been touting a healthy real-estate market for some time. And on Tuesday, Stewart Title’s senior vice president and chief economist Ted Jones confirmed it. “I’m not worried about your market or home prices,” said Jones, who spoke before a crowd of more than 200 real-estate agents, brokers and lenders at the Ramada Inn. [tag]Stewart Title of Tallahassee[/tag] sponsored the talk, which had Jones giving an economic outlook on the local and [tag]national economy[/tag]. Stewart Title is based in Houston.

Jones said [tag]Tallahassee[/tag]‘s job growth has contributed to its healthy housing market. Tallahassee gained 3,900 new jobs over the past 12 months. Jobs here, he said, are growing at 2.27 percent annual rate. Nationally, jobs are growing at a 1.59 percent annual rate. He also told them to expect interest rates to rise and abandon the thought that there’s a housing bubble – at least in the Tallahassee area. There isn’t one, he said. But there are “some overheated real-estate markets that will either pop or leak air” such as the housing markets in California and South Florida. A [tag]housing bubble[/tag] happens when homes increase in value to the point where they reach an unsustainable level relative to incomes and other economic factors. That is followed by rapid decreases in values that can result in a [tag]homeowners’ mortgage debt[/tag] being greater than their home values.

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