Posted on July - 06 - 2010
Home Prices Show Strong Quarterly Increase
Boosted by the homebuyer tax credit, U.S. home prices posted a 5.2 percent gain in the most recent quarter of the year and are up 8.8 percent from one year ago.
According to the newest figures from real estate data firm Clear Capital, home prices across the country made strong gains in the quarter that ended in June, with all four major regions showing both quarterly and annual price gains. The Midwestern region showed the strongest improvement, with home prices up 9.2 percent compared to the previous quarter and 17.2 percent over last year. Prices in the south were up 4.9 percent for the quarter and 6.2 percent for the year, while the Northeast was up 4.1 percent for the quarter and 5.1 percent for the year. Home values in the West region were up only 2.2 percent for the quarter, but strong performances previously still allowed it to post a 7.8 percent annual gain, trailing only the Midwest on that measure. “Metro level markets are showing recent signs of healthy price growth, yet many of these markets are simply returning to their pre-winter levels, and some of the hardest hit areas remain as much as 54 percent below their 2006 peaks,” said Dr. Alex Villacorta, senior statistician at Clear Capital. “While there is still a lot of ground to be made up, the 8.8 percent yearly gain is a strong lift off of the severe lows of last year, especially when you consider in the same time period unemployment and REO saturation levels hit their highest point in more than two decades.” The share of foreclosed properties as a portion of the total market shrank in June, which may have contributed to the rise in overall pricing. Real-estate owned (foreclosed) saturation fell to 24.6 percent of the market, down from 27.8 percent reported for May. The monthly report is based on a “rolling quarters” method which updates quarterly data every month, rather than at fixed periods four times a year.
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