Home sales prices rise in region, nation
First Posted:
WILKES-BARRE – Year-over-year home sale prices excluding distressed sales rose 7.5 percent in July in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area, more than twice the national pace and the second consecutive month of strong increases. Comparable sale prices nationally shot up 4.3 percent in July, their largest leap since 2006, according to real estate data provider CoreLogic.
When sales made in foreclosure or otherwise forced to market are included, local prices fell 0.6 percent compared to July 2011. That was far worse than the national increase of 3.8 percent with distressed sales included.
Foreclosures have been rising steadily in the market made up of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming counties. They stood at 3.67 percent of mortgages in August, above the national rate for the sixth consecutive month. Ninety-day delinquencies, a predictor of future foreclosures, stood at 6.77 percent in August.
In June, local sale prices excluding distressed sales rose 8 percent, CoreLogic said. With distressed sales included the increase was 4.3 percent.
The national gain marks the fifth straight rise in the gauge, part of a positive swing after a year and a half of slumps. The last time prices rose so much was in August 2006, when they jumped 4.1 percent.
The report, coming as a glut of house-hunters clamor after a shrinking inventory, suggests the real estate market is “clearly seeing the light at the end of a very long tunnel,” said CoreLogic Chief Executive Anand Nallathambi in a statement.
Still, the housing market’s recovery is just beginning. Prices remain 27 percent below their peak in April 2006, CoreLogic said.
Arizona led the country in price appreciation with a 16.6 percent surge, followed by Idaho, Utah, South Dakota and Colorado. Delaware’s 4.8 percent plunge was the deepest drop-off in prices, with Alabama, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Illinois also suffering major slips.
Housing, though seemingly in a recovery, is still shaky, according to other data. Consumer confidence is up, helping to push pending home sales to a two-year high, but the job market and the overall economy continue to lag.
