Contact Your Financial Adviser Money Making MC
25 April 2017
 |
| U.S.Homes (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions) |
U.S. home prices rose steadily upward in February as more homebuyers
chased fewer available properties, a trend that many analysts say may not be
sustainable.
The Standard & Poor's CoreLogic
Case-Shiller national home price index, released Tuesday , increased 5.8 percent in February,
the most in 32 months. Such strong price gains and slightly higher mortgage
rates may eventually cool off demand. The
Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
But for now, sales of new and existing homes
are robust. Last month, sales of existing homes reached their highest level in
a decade. The strong demand, however, hasn't enticed more Americans to sell
their homes. The number of houses for sale has dropped to its lowest level in
nearly 20 years, which makes finding an available home the toughest challenge
awaiting potential buyers in the spring home buying season. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
Many homeowners have benefited from the sharp
price gains of recent years, but those increases have also made it harder for
them to "trade up" to a bigger house, discouraging them from selling.
Others have very low mortgage rates and may be reluctant to sell if doing so
would force them to take on higher borrowing costs. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
The cities with the biggest annual price
gains in February were Seattle; Portland, Oregon; and Dallas.
Still, some relief may be on the horizon,
though it's not clear when. Average rents are leveling off, which could keep
many people in apartments and dampen demand for homes.
Mortgage rates are also up from last year's
record lows. Those two trends "could put a dent in home-buyer demand and
overall price growth," said Svenja Gudell, chief economist at real estate
data provider Zillow. "Those changes won't necessarily be unwelcome,
especially in some rapidly growing coastal markets in which buyers, sellers and
renters could all use a breather."
The Case-Shiller index covers roughly half of
U.S. homes. The index measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and
creates a three-month moving average. The February figures are the latest
available. The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
Home builders are ramping up construction to
meet the healthy demand, which may provide buyers some relief. Ground breakings
on new homes rose 8.1 percent in the first three months of this year compared
with 2016. The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
And the supply of new homes available for
sale in February climbed to a seven-year higher of 266,000.The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
No comments:
Post a Comment