Surging Confidence For Strong Spring Sales In Us
News Posted On: 02 April 2012
Economists are predicting a strong spring selling season in the US housing market. Existing home sales have been rising for the past few months, and recently pending home sales have also shown growth according to the NAR. This has led to falling inventory and even price rises in some cases, but has ultimately led to a surge in confidence that the recovery is building.
According to the same NAR survey of 4,300 agents late in February, confidence in the single-family home market is at a 4 year high. This coincided with a report from Coldwell Banker that traffic to its website was 47% higher than February 2010.
This spring season "will be the best in four or five years," says economist Paul Dales of Capital Economics.
But as has been the story throughout this downturn, the picture will continue to be mixed. Eric Fox, Veros Real Estate Solutions economist says that the Spring season will be a good indicator of which markets are improving and which are still declining. "This spring will be the litmus test for housing demand," agrees Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist for Mizuho Securities USA.
Veros puts it into a percentage; predicting that while 40% of metropolitan areas will see prices rise in the next 11 months, the overall market will see prices fall 0.85%.
Phoenix will do best, Veros says. Given a 42% drop in home supply and a relatively strong economy, Phoenix homes will see a 5% price gain this year, Veros says.
A similar-size drop in supply is also helping Denver, says Scott Webber, president of Fuller Sotheby's International Realty. "We've returned to a much more balanced market," he says.
The Case-Shiller index shows that Denver prices rose 0.2% in January compared to a year earlier, when it was one of only 3 metro's to see prices grow year on year along with Pheonix and Detroit.
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Written by Liam Bailey
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