The n
ational housing market continues to show great gains lately, according to recent data from the Standard & Poor’s Case/Shiller home price index and other national sources.
Despite some setbacks like rising mortgage rates, the housing market is on an upward swing.
Just Consider These 3 Indicators:
1.) More sellers are listing their homes
2.) More lenders are approving loans
3.) More builders are constructing new developments
This is great news for the entire economy but particularly for interested home sellers!
U.S. Homes for Sale
Here’s an overview of the recent data released by several housing market experts, as originally reported by the New York Times:
- Home values increased 12.4 percent from July 2012 to July 2013.
- Year-over-year home prices were up in all 20 cities tracked by Case/Shiller, varying from 3.5 percent in New York to 27.5 percent in Las Vegas.
- Month-to-month home increases were only 0.6 percent, a slowdown from the 1.7 percent increase in April and the 0.9 percent increase in May and June.
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported an 8.8 percent gain in home prices year-over-year.
- Meanwhile, Lennar and KB Home reported plenty of growth and profits in the third quarter, with Lennar seeing a 39 percent increase in 3rd quarter earning year-over-year and KB seeing its profit increase by 7 times year-over-year!
- The number of mortgage applications for home purchases has increased by 7 percent over the last year, although refinance requests have actually decreased 70 percent since early May.
- 2.5 million households regained equity in their homes during the second quarter, according to CoreLogic.
Experts credit the improvements on the housing market to an array of reasons, including people rushing to invest in property before prices continue to rise, lenders gradually relaxing their lending standards, an increase in overall housing inventory, a small inventory of foreclosures on the market and mass home purchasing by investors.
The recent activity on the housing market is sure to benefit the entire country, even if residents aren’t planning on buying or selling a house.
That’s because when the housing market improves, people tend to feel wealthier and thus are more likely to spend money.
This in turn bolsters the greater U.S. economy as a whole!
Still, it should be noted that rising mortgage rates may cool off the housing market slightly in the next few months. Rates have increased from 3.4 percent in January for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to 4.4 percent in July.
But these rates are well below what they’ve been in recent decades!
National Housing Market News that Affects You
As you can see, our national housing market is getting stronger everyday – which is good news for all of us!
Check back here soon for more updates on the current state of the national housing market and how it may affect your home buying and selling efforts.
Whether you’re thinking of buying or selling a piece of real estate, the information we provide will better prepare you for navigating the market effectively. For more information on home values in your Ann Arbor neighborhood, give The Bouma Group, Realtors a call today at 734-761-3060 or email info@bouma.com. For an instant market valuation for your home, visit www.annarbormarkettrends.com now!