By Steve Cook | RISMEDIA, Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Home price gains in September rose over record August levels, evidence of residual summer buying activity, according to the first market report of the month to be released.
All regions saw small up-ticks in yearly price gains as Clear Capital’s Home Data Index (HDI) Market Report said September prices rose to 10.9 percent year-over-year. In August, national yearly home price growth reached 10.2 percent , the last time Clear Capital reported double digit yearly price growth since the middle of 2006, the height of the bubble.
Clear Capital’s August prices remained 32.5 percent off their previous highs and only in line with 2002 prices. Additionally, the low tier price segment of the housing market saw quarterly gains of 2.0 percent, the lowest since April 2012, indicating the sector that kick started the recovery is already on a path of moderation. From its peak rate of growth in April 2013, rates of growth for the low tier segment, or home sale values in the bottom 25th percentile, have fallen from 4.1 percent to 2.0 percent.
“While national and regional rates showed more of the same in September, an interesting dichotomy is unfolding beneath the surface,” says Dr. Alex Villacorta, vice president of research and analytics at Clear Capital. “Strong performances in San Francisco and Detroit remind us that in a dynamic market, the only constant is change. For about a year and a half now, we’ve been focused on First-In, First-Out recoveries characterized by hard hit markets attracting investor interest, like Miami, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Now as the recovery matures, we see homebuyers re-engaging in markets that haven’t fit the typical investor profile.
“As demand calibrates to local economic environments, markets will start to find their natural equilibriums with moderating gains ahead. This should invite new markets, such as San Francisco and Detroit to share the spotlight as their recoveries continue to evolve,” he says.
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