Market observers shouldn't be fooled by the fact that national yearly gains in April amounted to 7.2%, according to
The April Clear Capital Home Data Index shows home price gains in “stark contrast” to the 1.4% home price declines of April 2012.
However, the analyst warns, much of the gains in the yearly trends “are a reflection of the market lows in 2012, rather than a function of recent short-term momentum.”
HDI Market Report April 2013 highlights also include continued stabilization of quarterly prices both on a national and regional basis indicating “a good position for the start of the spring buying season.”
Clear Capital reports the quarterly growth rate of 1% demonstrates the market is on track to hit annual forecasted gains of roughly 4% nationally, which “is in line” with average historical rates.
On average, regional home prices continue to correct at an expected rate “commensurate with their stages in the housing recovery,” but also feature a few exceptions. For example, in April, Las Vegas saw yearly growth accelerate to 24.3%.
Meanwhile, according to Villacorta, in Phoenix, the second high growth market in the country, prices saw a slight pullback in yearly gains to 25.8%, “a signal to the start of more normal rates of growth.”
If 2012 was a turning point for the market as prices hit their lowest point and saw a very strong correction through the year, he said, this year the market is stabilizing and the large yearly and even quarterly gains of 2012 are starting to subside, marking the return to more normal rates of growth, “and adjust to the new normal.”
It is a sign the recovery is sustainable, he said.
