With home prices at record highs in Denver and other cities, many worry about buying at the top of the market, only to take a hit when it comes time to sell. But experts continue to offer reassurance, predicting that home prices will keep rising nationwide.
“The trend of increasing home prices is continuing,” noted David M. Blitzer, chairman of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index committee. Blitzer’s comments were included in a report covering the market for June, 2017.
“Price increases are supported by a tight housing market,” he added. “Both the number of homes for sale and the number of days a house is on the market have declined for four to five years.”
Denver’s home prices showed a nearly 8% rise in June 2017 over June of 2016. The Index’s 10-City Composite for the month rose 4.9% year-over-year. Its 20-City Composite rose even higher—5.7%.
Blitzer expects the trend to continue. And while he admits that increasing prices are affecting affordability, he says that other factors are compensating for this. Consider that:
• …the unemployment rate is down
• …the number of new jobs is growing nationally by nearly 200,000 per month
• …wages and salaries are increasing at a rate slightly over inflation
• …mortgage rates remain low, at under 4%.
“Given the current economic conditions and the tight housing market,” says Blitzer, summing up the situation, “an immediate reversal in home price trends appears unlikely.”