After six years of excruciating agony for many residential property owners in the US, there is definitely light peeking through in some areas. According to Case-Shiller, home prices for the 20 largest cities in the US rose for a third straight month in April. That said, prices remain at one-third of the peak achieved back in 2006, so the financial pain for the vast majority of home-owners remains acute.
Bolstered by this much-improved affordability, as well as very low mortgage rates and tight supply in some areas, most of America’s largest cities are seeing some strong buying interest. In the likes of San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, and Tampa prices have jumped at an annual rate of more than 10% in the three months to April. Also worth noting is that there is strong buying in selected areas by both first-time buyers and those on higher incomes.
Stable/rising house prices are definitely a pre-condition for a more sustainable recovery in the US.
This article is contributed by FxPro. You can view the original article here
