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发帖数: 2817 | 1 Home prices are showing signs of topping out: The S&P/Case-Shiller index
posted its first month-over-month decline in 10 months on Tuesday.
The annual measure of home prices still increased 13.7% in November, but
that was only narrowly better than the rise posted in October.
The housing recovery was one of the stronger aspects of the economy last
year, boosting household wealth and home construction.
But with mortgage rates climbing steadily since hitting record lows in May,
it's clear the housing recovery is starting to lose some steam.
"While housing will make further contributions to the economy in 2014, the
pace of price gains is likely to slow during the year," said David Blitzer,
chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Calculator: How much house can you afford?
But housing experts say that more modest price increases are probably a good
thing for the housing market. The rapid increases of the last year are not
sustainable, they said.
"Sellers used to seeing huge price gains month after month may feel some
whiplash as that slows down," said Stan Humphries, chief economist for sales
tracker Zillow. But more modest price increases mean "the housing market is
still a long way from normal, but it's getting there."
The Case-Shiller index chronicles prices across the nation's 20 largest
metropolitan areas. Fourteen of those markets posted double-digit percentage
gains over the last year, but only nine posted any month-over-month gain.
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The improvement in housing was driven by pent-up demand for home purchases,
combined with lower unemployment and a drop in foreclosures. Mortgage rates
have been climbing steadily of late but remain low by historical standards,
making housing prices far more affordable than they were at the height of
the bubble last decade.
National prices are still nearly 20% below peak levels reached in mid-2006,
according to Case-Shiller. To top of page |
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