A version of this article first appeared on February 7, 2013 in the Daily Crux, published by Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, an independent investment research firm. You can visit them at www.stansberryresearch.com.
From PragCap
If you’re looking for things I’ve been wrong about recently you can chalk housing up on the list Last year I said I expected housing’s downside was fairly limited and said that long-term buyers shouldn’t hesitate to buy, but that the market was likely to muddle through in a classic post-bubble workout period. Now, it might be a bit too early to declare a new boom, but the latest data from CoreLogic certainly looks very positive and has to have us all asking the question – is the next boom already beginning?
More Via CoreLogic:
Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 8.3 percent in December 2012 compared to December 2011. This change represents the biggest increase since May 2006 and the 10th consecutive monthly increase in home prices nationally.
“December marked 10 consecutive months of year-over-year home price improvements, and the strongest growth since the height of the last housing boom more than six years ago,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “We expect price growth to continue in January [2013] as our Pending HPI shows strong year-over-year appreciation.”
“We are heading into 2013 with home prices on the rebound,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The upward trend in home prices in 2012 was broad based with 46 of 50 states registering gains for the year. All signals point to a continued improvement in the fundamentals underpinning the U.S. housing market recovery.”
Cullen Roche is the Founder of Orcam Financial Group, LLC. Orcam is a financial services firm offering research, private advisory, institutional consulting and educational services. For more information, visit http://pragcap.com. Reprinted with permission.