When Will Housing Prices Rise?

Is There Still Time to Buy Before Home Values Begin to Increase?

Apr 25, 2009

The housing slump has made this the best buyer's market in decades. But does a new report signal the end of falling home prices?

There are many reasons why this is a good time to buy a home. Housing prices have been falling for more than a year in most parts of the country. Sellers, many of them desperate to sell their residences, are willing to compromise on everything from price to closing dates to repairs. Buyers also can choose from a large inventory of unsold homes.

A new report, though, by the National Association of Realtors, may signal the start of the much-awaited recovery of the housing market.

And with that recovery may come an increase in the sales prices of homes on the market.

Home Values Rise

The latest sales survey by the Realtors association says that the median value of existing homes- which includes condos, single-family homes and condominiums- rose by 4.2 percent from February to March. Home values do typically rise in March. However, housing values historically have risen only an average of 1.8 percent from February to March.

The 4.2-percent increase this year means that the median sales price of an existing home in March stood at $175,200. This is still a good value, especially considering that it is 7.1 percent lower than the median home sales price from one year ago.

Still, the Realtors report is causing some analysts to wonder whether the housing market has finally reached its bottom and is, at long last, poised for a recovery.

Will Housing Prices Continue to Go Up?

A housing recovery would be good for the economy. It wouldn't be as good for anyone hoping to buy a house. Predicting when this recovery will come, though, is tricky business. For instance, an economist at First American Real Estate Information, Sam Khater, in a story in the Orange County Register, predicts that a housing recovery won't occur until late 2010 at the earliest.

But Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, is predicting that housing sales will increase significantly in the middle of summer this year. Yun points to the $8,000 first-time homebuyers tax credit, historically low mortgage interest rates and a large inventory of unsold homes as the reasons for his prediction.

Buyers Should Make a Move When They're Ready

No one knows yet who's right, Yun or Khater. It's safest, then, for buyers to purchase a home when it makes sense to them, regardless of whether the housing market has hit bottom or not.

Combined with low interest rates, the declining sales prices of homes across the country mean that housing is more affordable than it's been in a decade. Buyers who need to purchase, and who find that ideal home, would be wise to make an offer.

The copyright of the article When Will Housing Prices Rise? in Buying/Selling a Home is owned by Dan Rafter. Permission to republish When Will Housing Prices Rise? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.