HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
LEAD ARTICLE
LOOMING HOUSING BUBBLE IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
BY PETER MILLER AND DAREN BLOMQUIST
Today’s real estate marketplace is a wonder to behold. With rising home prices, bargain mortgage rates, and millions of would-be buyers waiting in the wings what’s not to like? But is it possible that today’s soaring real estate values might soon end with a shocking and thunderous drop that demolishes the housing sector and torches much of the economy? Are we watching a bubble in the making?
It depends on whom you ask.
Home prices increased to a new all-time high nationally in June 2017, 4.3 percent above the pre-recession peak in June 2006, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index. ATTOM Data Solutions shows that U.S. median home prices in the second quarter of 2017 increased 8.9 percent from a year ago to a new all-time high of $245,000 — 1.8 percent above the pre-recession peak of $240,750 in the third quarter of 2005.
Many economists and other national real estate experts continue to see clear skies ahead for U.S. residential real estate, while the opinions tend to be less optimistic among local market participants on the frontlines of their respective housing markets. Home Prices at All-Time High Before getting to those disparate opinions, here’s some recent data on home prices to help set the stage.
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JULY 2017 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS
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