Last week, I wrote a blog about the housing recovery and I cited expert opinion that indicates that we are in fact in a recovery. The blog entry was very well received. Of course there are negative fundamentals that detract from the positive news (such as shadow inventory, unemployment and lending guidelines). However, despite negative aspects on many market fronts in the wake of the fiscal cliff “resolution” (or lack thereof), the housing market recovery seems to be strong. In fact, the number of “improving markets” as identified by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) rose sharply this month to 242, up by 47 over December 2012. 47 new markets met the requirements of solid relative growth, employment improvement, housing permit application volume, and home price improvement to be added to the list. Only six markets fell off the list this month.
“We created the improving markets list…to spotlight individual metros where – contrary to the national headlines – housing markets were on the mend,” said NAHB chairman Barry Rutenberg. “Today,” he observed, “242 out of 361 metros nationwide appear on that list. The story is no longer about exceptions to the rule but about the growing breadth of the housing recovery.” Rutenberg threw in a dig about “overly strict mortgage requirements hold[ing] back the pace of improvement,” but the NAHB’s tone is definitely one of optimism for 2013.
So now we have further evidence of a strong housing recovery for 2013. Probably the strongest evidence of a housing recovery and rising prices is that I plan on buying a home in 2013!!! Of course the market goes up when I decide to buy another home!!! LOL All we need now is loosening of credit and the recovery will really take hold.
It is also important to note that n market goes straight up and no market goes straight down so there will always be some variations and deviations.
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