While the Census Bureau says home ownership is at its lowest point in 15 years, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies reports “After across-the-board declines in 2011, all major house price indexes registered significant increases in 2012.” As documentation, the Center says the March 2013 median house price was up 11.6 percent over March 2012, and as of April 2013, home prices have risen in all except two states and in 94 of 100 major metropolitan markets. Between Q4 2011 and Q4 2012, the number of underwater borrowers dropped 1.7 million to 10.4 million, which represents 23 percent of all mortgage holders. Further, as philly.com informs MHProNews, the rise in prices resulted from increased sales and fewer listings. April 2013 marked the 34th consecutive month of rent increases as ranked by the Consumer Price Index, and last year rental households grew by 1.1 million. Eric S. Belsky, the joint center’s managing director, says, “Even as historically low interest rates have helped make the monthly cost of owning a home more favorable than any time in the past 40 years, the national homeownership rate fell for the eighth straight year in 2012.” He adds, noting the challenges still ahead, “Long-term vacancies are at elevated levels in a number of places, millions of owners are still struggling to make their mortgage payments, and credit conditions for home buyers remain extremely tight.”
