Improving Market Pushes Home Prices Higher in June
by
Reuters
Aug 6th 2013 9:25AM Updated Aug 6th 2013 9:26AM
Nam Y. Huh/APBy Leah Schnurr
NEW YORK -- U.S. home prices jumped in June and are forecast to ramp up further in the latest signs of a housing market that is on the mend, data from CoreLogic showed Tuesday.
CoreLogic's home price index rose 1.9 percent from May and accelerated by 11.9 percent from June last year.
Excluding distressed sales, prices were slightly less strong, up 1.8 percent on the month and 11 percent from a year earlier.
Distressed sales include properties that have been seized by lenders and short sales, where the struggling homeowner is allowed to sell the property for less than the outstanding mortgage.
The acceleration in prices compared to a year earlier was in line with the closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller report that showed prices rose 12.2 percent on an annual basis in May.
The CoreLogic report predicted more gains for the housing market, forecasting prices will rise 1.8 percent in July. That would make for a year-over-year gain of 12.5 percent.
"The U.S. housing market experienced robust price appreciation during the first half of 2013 and our forecast calls for double-digit growth through July," CoreLogic chief executive Anand Nallathambi said in a statement. "Despite their rebound of late, home prices remain reasonable in a historical context, with most states near peak affordability levels."
The recovery in the housing sector has gained momentum this year, with tight inventory pushing prices higher. But higher interest rates on mortgages pose a potential hurdle if they cause potential homebuyers to shy away from the market.
The gross domestic product measures the level of economic activity within a country. To figure the number, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the total consumption of goods and services by private individuals and businesses; the total investment in capital for producing goods and services; the total amount spent and consumed by federal, state, and local government entities; and total net exports. It's important, because it serves as the primary gauge of whether the economy is growing or not. Most economists define a recession as two or more consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP.
The CPI measures current price levels for the goods and services that Americans buy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects price data on a basket of different items, ranging from necessities like food, clothing and housing to more discretionary expenses like eating out and entertainment. The resulting figure is then compared to those of previous months to determine the inflation rate, which is used in a variety of ways, including cost-of-living increases for Social Security and other government benefits.
The unemployment rate measures the percentage of workers within the total labor force who don't have a job, but who have looked for work in the past four weeks, and who are available to work. Those temporarily laid off from their jobs are also included as unemployed. Yet as critical as the figure is as a measure of how many people are out of work and therefore suffering financial hardship from a lack of a paycheck, one key item to note about the unemployment rate is that the number does not reflect workers who have stopped looking for work entirely. It's therefore important to look beyond the headline numbers to see whether the overall workforce is growing or shrinking.
The trade deficit measures the difference between the value of a nation's imported and exported goods. When exports exceed imports, a country runs a trade surplus. But in the U.S., imports have exceeded exports consistently for decades. The figure is important as a measure of U.S. competitiveness in the global market, as well as the nation's dependence on foreign countries.
Each month, the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures changes in the total amount of income that the U.S. population earns, as well as the total amount they spend on goods and services. But there's a reason we've combined them on one slide: In addition to being useful statistics separately for gauging Americans' earning power and spending activity, looking at those numbers in combination gives you a sense of how much people are saving for their future.
Consumers play a vital role in powering the overall economy, and so measures of how confident they are about the economy's prospects are important in predicting its future health. The Conference Board does a survey asking consumers to give their assessment of both current and future economic conditions, with questions about business and employment conditions as well as expected future family income.
The health of the housing market is closely tied to the overall direction of the broader economy. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, named for economists Karl Case and Robert Shiller, provides a way to measure home prices, allowing comparisons not just across time but also among different markets in cities and regions of the nation. The number is important not just to home builders and home buyers, but to the millions of people with jobs related to housing and construction.
Most economic data provides a backward-looking view of what has already happened to the economy. But the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index attempts to gauge the future. To do so, the index looks at data on employment, manufacturing, home construction, consumer sentiment, and the stock and bond markets to put together a complete picture of expected economic conditions ahead.
