Home-Price Gains Pick Up as U.S. Real Estate Market Rebounds
By Michelle Jamrisko - Dec 26, 2012 9:05 AM ET
Home prices climbed in October by the most in more than two years as the real-estate market rebounds and contributes to the U.S. economic recovery.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities increased 4.3 percent from October 2011, the biggest 12-month advance since May 2010, the group said today in New York. The median forecast of 30 economists in a Bloomberg survey projected a 4 percent gain.
Property values will probably keep heading higher as record-low mortgage rates, a growing population and an improving economy spur demand for housing. The turnaround in real estate is buoying household confidence and wealth, one reason why consumer spending is growing even as concern mounts that lawmakers will fail to stave off looming tax increases.
“The housing recovery is moving along quite well,” Sam Coffin, an economist at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, said before the report. “Home prices are expected to keep rising as demand improves. Household formation has picked up, and that soaks up inventory pretty quickly.”
Stock-index futures held earlier gains after the report as President Barack Obama and Congress prepared to resume budget discussions and amid expectations Japan’s new government will act to bolster the economy. The contract on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index maturing in March rose 1.4 percent to 1,421.9 at 9:02 a.m. in New York.
more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-26/home-price-gains-accelerate-as-u-s-real-estate-market-rebounds.html
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