Home Prices Rise for 6th Straight Month
In a September 25 article, Reuters reported that home prices in the United States rose once again in July. That means U.S. home prices rose for a sixth straight month in what Reuters called the latest sign of a sustainable housing market recovery. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, considered a leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed a 1.6% increase in July versus June 2012.
Reuters noted that “housing faces a number of hurdles, including tight lending standards for mortgages, a large number of underwater homeowners, and a large number of foreclosures still in the pipeline.” However, on the positive side, the Federal Reserve announced an aggressive stimulus program in which it will buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month until the job market sees sustained improvement, and that announcement pushed mortgage interest rates to new record lows last week.
If you’d like to read more, check out the entire Reuters article or the full Dow Jones press release regarding the latest data from the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.
The above represents continuing good news for the national real estate market. Locally, the July Market Analysis for Summit County included some very solid numbers. It’s encouraging to see positive results on a multi-month basis in 2012. If you’re interested in the possibility of getting into the Summit County real estate market, now is a great time to get started. Please don’t hesitate to contact Philip with your questions.
