39% Increase!

The California Association of Realtors reported a 39% increase from August 2011 to August 2012 in the median sold price of existing single family homes and a 9% increase in the pace of sales during this same period in San Benito County.

12% Increase!

The California Association of Realtors (CAR) reported the median price of existing single family homes saw a 12% increase from July 2011 to July 2012 and a 3.9% increase from June 2012 to July 2012 in San Benito County.

Statewide, CAR noted July’s sales pace was up 15.3% from that of July 2011.  July marked the 5^th consecutive month that California’s median home price was up from both the previous month and year.  The statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home was up 4.2% from June and up 12.7% from July 2011.  The July 2012 median price was the highest since August 2008, when the median price reached $352,730.

Realtor.com released a report ranking 146 housing markets, comparing both median list prices and for-sale inventories from 2nd quarter 2011 to 2nd quarter 2012.  6 out of the top 10 towns were in California.  San Jose at #5 had a 12% increase in the median price and 40% decrease in inventory.

July Market News

A lot of positive housing news and statistics have been released recently.  We have seen this pickup in activity in our own business with a lot more home sales and more people out shopping for a home.  Homebuyers are taking advantage of historic low interest rates and low home prices.  It’s interesting hearing from people out looking to purchase that they have seen home prices increase 5%-10% just in the last few months.  I thought I would highlight a few articles I came across, confirming what we’ve been experiencing:

Zillow’s Chief Economist Stan Humphries stated, ”After four months with rising home values and increasingly positive forecast data, it seems clear that the country has hit a bottom in home values.”

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index rose 1.3% in the month of April, and 19 out of 20 cities saw home-price gains during the month.

The National Association of Realtors reported that median home prices rose for the third month in a row in June, rising 7.9%, compared with a year ago.

The Economist recently noted “America’s houses are now among the world’s most undervalued: 19% below fair value, according to our house-price index” in the article The American Economy, Comeback Kid.

Supply is low and prices are on the rise.  This is all good news for housing, construction jobs, and the economy.