Good News For Homeowners Is Wake-Up Call For Buyers
On the one hand, there is very good news for homeowners across the nation. As reported by NBCNews.com, the Standard & Poors/Case Shiller composite index indicates that U. S. housing prices have bottomed and that a recovery is underway. Nationally, the Case Shiller study of 20 cities concluded that prices bottomed, on average, in January 2012, after reaching their peak in April 2006. That’s a long period of downward movement, which has finally been reversed. Perhaps the very best news is that home prices have even stabilized in cities where foreclosures remain high, including Miami, Phoenix and Las Vegas. The pick-up in home prices means that some 700,000 homeowners who previously owed more on their homes than they could recover by selling are now above water, with their homes valued at more than the mortgage amount. Nationally, there are still an 11.4 million homes under water, as of March 31. On the other hand, with prices stabilizing and even advancing, the opportunity to ‘steal’ a property is pretty much gone. In the future, homebuyers will purchase residential real estate with a focus on traditional values: location, home suitability, neighborhood values, quality of construction, builder reputation and builder track record. It has been a long time coming, but it sure appears the housing market has finally turned.
