Repeatedly we said that the strength of this recovery will be measured in part by how well the housing industry fares.
Recently we’ve seen:
1. Homeowners with more manageable monthly payments
2. Housing starts bounce up
3. The number of foreclosures begin to fall
4. Jumbo mortgage activity increasing
5. Pending home sales jump up
6. Existing home sales rising
It is no wonder then that home prices in many cities are beginning to recover.
See the chart below for a dozen cities all across the country reporting significant price bounces already this year.
(Source: Zillow)(click to enlarge)
I think it’s way too early to call it a come back, Zillow has not adjusted seasonality out of those charts. It is interesting to see Boulder’s prices so high, I never would have guessed that!