“Home prices continue to rise and outpace both inflation and wage gains,” said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. Prices are rising slower than the double-digit gains than were prevalent after the post recession housing market. As MHProNews understands, if home prices rise more than wages, it could put homebuyers out of range.
Prices rose by ten percent in Denver and 9.8 percent in San Francisco. Denver and Dallas have both surpassed house prices existent before the recession. Seventeen of the cities saw prices rise faster in the past year. Only San Diego, Las Vegas and Portland saw prices slow down.
Prices posted a 4.2 percent annual gain nationally, a drop from the 4.4 percent increase in January. However, prices remain ten percent below their 2006 level. The supply of homes for sale is 4.6 months, below the six months supply which signals a healthy market.
“While nationally, prices are recovering, new construction of single family homes remains very weak despite low vacancy rates among both renters and owner-occupied homes,” Blitzer added. ##
(Image credit: etftrends)
