With the huge increase in homes sales (+27% YTD) people ask me why their homes value aren’t moving up with the increase in sales. It’s because prices always lag behind sales. David Stiff – Chief economist said home prices will stabilize by the end of this summer 2012 and then should rise at an annualized rate of 3.9 percent over the next 5 years.
The precipitous drop in home prices was an immediate cause of the last recession and the financial crisis. Falling home equity has cut into household consumption and has further constrained the economic recovery,” Stiff added. “However, very low prices have also started to draw in more buyers. As demand for houses ramps up, construction activity will increase and residential investment will begin to make a substantial contribution to the recovery and GDP overall.”
Due to the unprecedented price decline and record-low mortgage rates, affordability has improved dramatically. The relationship between home prices and rents has returned to 1998 levels. The ratio of median single-family home price to median family income is lower than any time since 1991. For a conventional mortgage, the payment for a median-priced home represents just 12 percent of median-family income, the lowest percentage on record (since 1971). Fiserv Case Shiller projects this record-level affordability will eventually bring more first-time and trade-up buyers back into the housing market, especially as apartment rents continue to increase and new households are formed, making buying a cheaper option than renting. Growing demand from first-time and trade-up buyers will finally put a floor under home prices, ending the nearly seven-year collapse of the housing bubble.
