U.S. home prices in April rose for the first time in eight months, according to data released Tuesday that may reflect more of the beginning of buying season than a new sign in the troubled sector of the economy.
Home prices rose 0.7% in April, trimming the year-on-year decline to 4%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, which is one of the most closely followed gauges.
The data was roughly in line was consensus estimates.
There were gains in 13 of the 20 cities, led by a 3% gain in Washington D.C., the only city that also has seen year-on-year advances.
Encouragingly, some of the hardest-hit cities also showed gains. Minneapolis, where prices have dropped 11.1% on the year, saw a 0.4% advance in April.
Portland, where prices are down 9.2%, saw a 0.1% increase.
Detroit however saw a 2.9% downturn, and the Motor City’s prices are not even two-thirds of what they were in 2000.
“The seasonally adjusted numbers show that much of the improvement reflects the beginning of the Spring-Summer home buying season,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indices. “It is much too early to tell if this is a turning point or simply due to some warmer weather.” On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices fell 0.1%.
Since its launch in early 2006, the markets have followed and reported on the non-seasonally adjusted data set used in the headline indices.
Activity in the housing market more broadly is constrained, hurt by a high unemployment rate as well as the housing bust that has left many homeowners underwater on their mortgage.
Existing-home sales are roughly 35% below their 2005 pace and housing starts are near their 30-year lows.
“The enormous supply overhang of existing homes (particularly factoring in all those in foreclosure or soon to be) promises to keep pressure on prices for some time,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc.
The Case-Shiller index uses three-month data, so April’s report includes sales from February, March and April.
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1 comentario:
El precio de la vivienda en EEUU registró en abril un alza del 0,7% respecto al mes anterior, lo que supone la primera subida de precios en ocho meses, según refleja el indicador S&P/Case-Shiller para las veinte mayores áreas metropolitanas del país, que, en términos interanuales, bajaron un 4%. "Se trata de un cambio bienvenido respecto a los últimos meses", destacó David M. Blitzer, presidente del comité del indicador en S&P, quien, sin embargo, advirtió de que las cifras ajustadas demuestran que gran parte de esta mejoría refleja el comienzo de la temporada de compra de vivienda, por lo que "es demasiado pronto para decir que se trata de un cambio de tendencia".
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