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US Cities See An Increase in Home Prices Home Prices Rise!
This is a headline you may be seeing in your city in the near future.
Between February and March of 2012, most major cities in the United States saw a rise in
home prices which shows that the housing market is making a slow recovery. Twenty cities are
tracked using the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index. Out of these 20 cities,
12 showed a rise in real estate. Even three of the real estate markets considered to be
the weakest, Tampa, Miami and Las Vegas, showed improvement. Prices did not drop in Las Vegas
and actually rose in Miami and Tampa.
When it comes to month-to-month increases, Dallas, Phoenix and Seattle saw the biggest
increases. In Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit, prices dropped the most. In other cities though,
prices are going up which gives many optimism that the housing market is on the rebound.
Mortgage rates remain at historic lows, sales continue to go up, builders have more confidence
and jobs are being added to the economy. When you combine these together, it’s a good
sign for real estate.
There is still room for caution. Although 12 of the 20 cities did improve, the weaker
cities still factored in and edged the index down to the lowest level since the housing
problems began. Price declines have slowed though and the majority of markets are improving
which is good news, according to David Blitzer. Mr. Blitzer is the chairman of the Standard
& Poor’s index committee. These increases may be due to seasonal changes as spring is
a popular time to buy a new home. When this index is looked at for a 12 month period,
home prices have dropped, but at a slower rate. The annual drop is the smallest since
December of 2010.
Other home price measures have also improved. Sales of new and previously occupied homes
reached new two-year highs in April. Builders are taking advantage of this and the low mortgage
rates and have been breaking ground on more new homes. It could be years though before
the real estate market makes a complete recovery. Mortgages are hard to come by and some people
are still hesitant to buy as they feel prices may drop even more. Improving employment helps
though as one million jobs have been added over the past five month period.