The housing market has continued its steady recovery throughout the first half of the year. But how long will the recovery continue, and are there any factors that could change its course? This article from HousingWire takes a look forward at the market’s chances for further strengthening throughout the rest of 2015.
Housing activity has strengthened in recent months, as gains in both new and existing home sales in May pushed total sales up to their highest level in eight years.
Analysts say a combination of job creation growth and an overdue upturn in mortgage lending, along with high levels of consumer confidence should ensure that this strength continues.
“From 5.4 million in 2014, we expect total home sales to average at least 5.7 million this year, before rising to around 6 million by 2017. That would be the strongest performance of home sales in 10 years,” says Ed Stansfield, chief property economist for Capital Economics.
Stansfield says events both domestic and abroad are either good for housing, or won’t have any negative affect.
On the issue of the job market, June’s Employment Report looked fairly strong, with non-farm payrolls rising by 223,000 and the unemployment rate falling to 5.3%.
For the first time in at least five years, most consumers think that now would be a good time to sell a home, if recent surveys are right.
May home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased by 6.3% in May 2015 compared with May 2014, according to the home price report from CoreLogic.
This change represents 39 months of consecutive year-over-year increases in home prices nationally. On a month-over-month basis, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased by 1.7% in May 2015 compared with April 2015.
“Mortgage rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans remained below 4% through May, helping to fuel home-purchase activity,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Our homes-for-sale listing data shows that markets with high demand and limited supply, such as San Francisco, are recording double-digit appreciation rates over the past year.”
