While housing prices continue to move in the upward direction, higher mortgage rates are keeping the pace slow and steady. Housing prices, though stellar, have been moving up in a rather consistent pace, suggesting that a housing rebound might be under way. These higher, stable housing prices are credited to the following factors:
- Decrease in unemployment
- Fewer foreclosures (which push the prices of other homes down)
Housing experts suggest that this slowed increase is good for buyers, sellers, and builders alike, since it is more sustainable than seen in the chart-topping, housing bubble days.
Home prices posted the largest annual gain since housing bubble days in August, although the month-over-month gain slowed for the fourth straight month.
The closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller home price index increased 12.8 percent from a year earlier, the biggest 12-month gain since February 2006.
But with mortgage rates significantly higher in recent months, the pace of increases is slowing. The 1.3 percent rise compared to July is only half the monthly increase posted in April when mortgage rates were near a record low.
Still, the recovery in the housing market continues to be strong, helped by a drop in foreclosures that were weighing on overall prices. A drop in the unemployment rate is also helping to support the housing recovery.
via: “Home Prices Continue to Climb,” KTVZ
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