INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE… What are rising now are asking prices for homes. A major Web real estate portal reports prices for homes listed there were up 3.8% in November versus a year ago. This is the largest year-over-year gain since the housing downturn began. In addition, the listing prices for the three months ending in November were up 0.8% from the prior three months. And the good news was widespread: annual gains were reported in 76 of the 100 largest metros. Finally, asking price gains are now beating rent price gains in the 25 largest rental markets.
The Wall Street Journal reports five factors influencing rising home prices: housing affordability, with price-to-rent and price-to-income ratios favoring home ownership in many markets; increased household formation; rising rents; a decrease in distressed sales; and record low inventories.
The Fed’s recent Beige Book reported improving markets for single-family homes in 10 of the 12 Federal Reserve districts across the country. But one of the two exceptions still showed declining inventories and the other had been hurt by Hurricane Sandy.Information courtesy of Nicole Walker, Sterling Bank
