DataQuick Reports Improvements for Housing, Questions Sustainability
According to the DataQuick's February Property Intelligence Report (PIR), although prices are improving and foreclosures are declining there is still room for economic uncertainty to "dampen" housing activity. DataQuick's PIR is a monthly report assessing the nations largest 42 counties and measures growth on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis.
In February, data showed that home prices grew in 34 of the 42 counties on a monthly and quarterly basis. Yearly, prices moved in a positive direction in 35 counties.
The figures for sales was not as impressive but improved monthly and quarterly compared to January. For February, 22 counties saw an increase from January compared to 12 counties who saw month-over-month improvements in January.
Last quarter, sales were up in 17 of the 42 counties, a significant increase from the 6 counties who saw quarter-over-quarter sales increases in January. Year-over-year sales were increasing in 30 counties in February.
Foreclosure trends did not change much and were trending downward on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis in 24, 26, and 25 of the reported counties, respectively.
Four hard-hit states-Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada-experienced double-digit price growth in the last year compared to other markets which experienced an average growth of 2.5 percent.
Gordon Crawford, Ph.D., the VP of analytics for DataQuick said that monthly and quarterly growth shows markets are continuing to "rise toward a certain stabilization despite looming economic factors. Recent home price growth rates, however, might be overcompensating for an overcorrecting decline in home prices during the downturn. As a result, we expect the growth rates in these markets to slow to a level that is more in line with the rest of the country's home price growth."
Despite the positive news, Crawford is cautious regarding to the housing market saying, "Uncertainty factors lead to a difficult time valuing real estate, dampening the activity of both buyers and sellers. Employment rose by 236,000 jobs in February, and although that is a favorable number, we have seen this in previous years where employment growth is positive, only to decline in later months of the year." Crawford noted other factors leading to uncertainty including unsustainable deficit levels, domestic fiscal issues, and financial issues in the eurozone.
