Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Double dose of good news for homeowners released today

More good news for the housing market was released today.

This morning, CoreLogic released its August Home Price Index, which showed home prices nationally increasing annually by 4.6 percent in August compared to the previous year. The change is the biggest year-over-year improvement since July 2006, the real estate research firm reported.

In the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill area, home prices rose 3.8 percent in August compared to a year ago. Home prices rose 0.6 percent in August compared to July, according to CoreLogic.

Then, this afternoon Wells Fargo released its regular report on the housing market, which also suggested conditions are improving.

"Housing continues to swim against the economic tide, with more reports tending to show improvement rather than deterioration," the authors wrote.

Among the positive signs noted:

- Expectations for new home construction have been bolstered by increased buyer traffic and assurances from the Federal Reserve that it will continue buying mortgages until well after the economy gets back on its feet again.

- Builder sentiment has continued to increase, with the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Homebuilders’ Index rising to 40 in September.

- Sales of both new and existing homes have also held near their recent higher levels and home buying is likely being constrained by a lack of supply in many areas. Low inventories are one reason that home prices have improved as much as they have in recent months.

- The S&P/Case Shiller 20-city home price index has risen 1.2 percent over the past year, and median new home prices, as measured by the National Association of Realtors are up 9.5 percent from August of last year.

8 comments:

Skippy said...

Oh I feel better, does this mean Harry Jones will will authorize another criminal level property re-evaluaiton for the honor of paying for the welfare voter this City seems heck bent on importing?

Anonymous said...

I'm starting to see those 'new subdivision' signs pop-up all over the place again - directing traffic to some new subdivision where 50+ homes are being erected. Great for the industry, but...somehow, I thought we'd never do that again (overbuild speculative new construction).

Wiley Coyote said...

If I was making $100,000 in 2006 and received a 3.5% increase and then other smaller increases in 2007 and 2008, that would be great.

Then if I lose my job in late 2008 and hired for another position elsewhere making only $45,000, that would be great too, at least I would have a job.

After getting no increases for a couple of years and in 2012 I get a 4.6% increase, that would be the biggest increse since 2006.

While the increase is great, I'm making less than half of what I was in 2006.

Let's see real numbers; how many houses are vacant from forclosure, how many loans today compared to 2006, etc.

Just posting a percent change versus year ago and comparing the change to 2006 means nothing.

Anonymous said...

Dear skippy. Harry jones and any other county manager in NC does not control the schedule for propery tax evaluation. The state does. It is a fixed schedule of 8 years.

Anonymous said...

Election time is near. Time for the liberal politicians and so called journalists to spin the numbers. There's more to come between now and November 6. After the election the 'real' numbers will be available. Until then take all improvements in the economy with a grain of salt.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anon at 5:49: You must be one of those overpaid, untrained, underworked staffers in the assessor a office. You know, one of those who wasn't certified to do mass appraisals., who never-the-less got raises just for being there when the private sector who pays your inflated salary didn't.

Anonymous said...

This can only be viewed as good news by people who do not understand economics and/or statistics.

Anonymous said...

At anon 8:56 you must be an uneducated troll who os blind to facts. The tax reval schedule is controlled by the state. Feel free to provide any facts to dispute it. Good luck with your impossible task.