Tag Archives: Home Prices

If current trends persist, this year may be the first year since 2006 the housing market records an annual price increase, according to a report released Thursday by Trulia. At the current rate of change, the year could close with a 4 percent price annual price increase. Asking prices rose 2.5 percent year-over-year in September. When foreclosure sales are excluded, prices were up 3.5 percent. Month-over-month, asking prices were up 0.5 percent in September.

Recent gains in housing are closely linked to rising consumer confidence, according to numbers juxtaposed and analyzed by Clear Capital in its latest report on home price movements. The feeble underpinnings of price increases, however, could soon topple, according to the real estate valuation company. Threatening to temper consumer sentiment--and in turn, home prices--is the fear Congress will not act in time to avert the looming "fiscal cliff" of $500 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that lie in wait at year-end, Clear Capital warns.

Home prices and home sales are rising, despite lackluster demand of traditional owner-occupied housing, according to Tim Rood of The Collingwood Group.

After reaching a two-year high in July, the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) fell in August to 99.2, the lowest level since April, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Having previously predicted that the index would climb to 102.2, declining numbers in three of four census regions surprised analysts. The slippage in both the PHSI and new home sales dampens the outlook for home sales, but NAR emphasized that the August drop hadn't impacted longer-term trends, with the index up 10.7 percent in the last year.

U.S. home prices continued to increase in July, according to Case Shiller. On Tuesday it revealed that its 20-city index up 1.6 percent from June and the 10-city index up 1.5 percent. The 10-city index rose to its highest level since November 2010 and the 20-city index to the highest level since October 2010. Prices rose in all of the 20 cities. Year-over-year, the 10-city index was up 0.6 percent and the 20-city index rose 1.2 percent. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the 20-city index to increase 1.7 percent from June.

Talking heads call the mortgage interest-rate deduction a sacrosanct giveaway for the tax code, a loophole as sacred for Americans as, say, Social Security or Medicare - and just as electric to politicians. But a new survey out from Zillow suggests that may not be the case anymore. According to Zillow - which notably conducted the survey with economists and real-estate experts instead of your average homeowners - 10 percent believe the mortgage interest-rate deduction should be thrown out as soon as possible, while 50 percent believe it ought to be phased out over time.

The picture gets rosier for housing as home prices continue their climb back to the top. One recent price index puts the July increase for prices at 0.9 percent, with prices achieving their first sustained recovery on a year-over-year basis since the market went bust in 2007. According to FNC, which recently released the Residential Price Index, property values also went up in July, securing gains for the fifth straight month. Figures for indices covering prices across the country and 40 metro areas revealed a sustained pickup.

Lately, the expectation has been for home prices to continue rising, but a recent report from Zillow put a damper this view. Home prices dropped in August month-over-month after rising for nine consecutive months. However, the drop was mere a 0.1 percent. At an average of $152,100, prices were still up on a yearly basis, showing an increase of 1.7 percent. The larger markets to see monthly price decreases were Chicago (-0.7 percent), New York (-0.3 percent) and Boston (-0.2 percent) metros.

Existing home sales rose 7.8 percent to 4.82 million in August the highest level since May 2010 the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The median price of an existing single in August was $187,400, down $400 from July but up $16,200 or 9.5 percent from August 2011. Economists had expected the sale pace to be 4.55 million. The percentage gain in sales was the strongest since last August when sales improved 8.9 percent month-over-month, the strongest month-month gain of the year.

Home prices skimmed close to the bottom during July this year but climbed 6.3 percent year-over-year by August, according to RE/MAX. The real estate company revealed in its latest National Housing Report that median home prices ticked up from last year over the last seven straight months. Home sales jumped 8.5 percent year-over-year, continuing its ascent from over the last fourteen consecutive months, and 2.5 percent on a monthly basis in August. Home inventory dipped 29.7 percent below levels from August last year.