If you’ve been weighing whether now is the right time to enter the local housing market as a home buyer, we have some news to share with you that will help you decide.
According to a recent report from real estate data provider CoreLogic, U.S. home price gains are slowing down, despite an increase during the month of August.
This is great news for home buyers because it means that you have a fantastic opportunity to get a reasonable price on your next home before prices continue to rise!
What Every Home Buyer Should Know About Recent US Housing Market Activity
CoreLogic reported that home prices increased 6.4 percent in August when compared to last year.
Still, that figure is actually down slightly from the annual gain of 6.8 percent in July.
Here’s what else the recent housing market report revealed:
- The increase in home prices is also down when compared to how much they had been rising toward the end of last year. During that time, prices were rising as much as 12 percent.
- Home sales have been mostly stable throughout 2014, as have price gains.
- All states showed home price gains during the month of August, save for Arkansas where prices were stagnate.
- Home values rose 11.1 percent in Michigan, which led the pack. And values in California and Nevada came in second place with 9.2 percent.
- In terms of specific cities, the Houston area saw home values increase 11.1 percent compared to the previous year. Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas and Riverside also saw large gains.
- Home prices nationwide remain about 12.1 percent below their peak average in April 2006.
- Home purchases decreased 1.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million in August.
- Home sales decreased from a July rate of 5.14 million.
- Meanwhile, the pace of home sales dropped 5.3 percent year-over-year.
- Experts say that an annual sales rate of 5.5 million is considered a healthy market.
- Meanwhile, the median sales price has increased 4.8 percent over the last 12 months to $219,800, although that average dropped slightly during the month of August when compared to July and June.
Experts say that most of any uptick in sales activity (and thus, values) on the national housing market would depend on wage growth. That’s because wages are currently neck-in-neck with inflation, making it hard for home buyers to increase in buying power.
Still, there’s hope on the horizon:
Although hourly wages have only increased 2.3 percent over the last 12 months, there are signs that that activity will pick up in 2015.
Use Recent Activity on the National Housing Market to Your Advantage
As you can see, the market has stabilized itself enough where you could purchase a home and get a pretty good return on your investment as values eventually continue to rise.
So if you’re thinking about investing in real estate anytime soon, now is the time to do so!
And be sure to check back here soon as we continue to discuss with you important real estate trends that impact you!