August Housing Metrics Point to Slowing Recovery

An analysis of county-level data across the country shows the housing market may have hit a plateau in August.

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""DataQuick's"":http://www.dataquick.com/ monthly Property Intelligence Report (PIR), which examines home price and sales metrics as well as foreclosure data across 42 counties, is the latest in a line of reports pointing to mounting evidence that the housing recovery is losing some of its energy.

According to the company's data, home prices in August grew in 40 of the 42 counties on a monthly basis and in all counties on a quarterly and yearly basis. However, [COLUMN_BREAK]

though growth was positive, the rate of improvement ""decreased from the elevated growth rates that were experienced in the prior month and quarter,"" said Gordon Crawford, Ph.D., VP of analytics for DataQuick.

While price increases over the last year have been rapid, Crawford says context is key.

""[A]lthough the experience differs across markets, most markets still have home prices that are well below peak home price levels. This is significant as it means that many households remain with negative equity, limiting the supply of available properties for sale,"" he said.

On the other hand, sales growth spread to more areas of the country in August, with 29 of the 42 markets posting increases over July. Forty of the tracked counties reported improvements in sales numbers over the quarter, and 30 experienced gains year-over-year.

Meanwhile, foreclosure numbers picked back up in many counties that had been experiencing decreases over previous months. According to DataQuick's property records, foreclosures decreased month-over-month in 20 counties compared to 31 in July. For the quarter ending in August, 23 counties reported a decline in foreclosures (compared to 26 in July), while 25 saw year-over-year declines (28 in July).