Housing Market Shows Signs of Life - RE/MAX
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Things may be looking up for the real estate market. After what seems like an eternity of a plunging housing market, RE/MAX of New England is offering the public hope.
According to their recently released Housing Market Outlook and Forecast, 2011 was a year which offered stability to the formerly highly volatile market. RE/MAX of New England attributed this relative steadiness to “[h]istorically low interest rates, renewed interest by investors, and job growth.”
The public can expect this stability to be intact for the remainder of 2012 as the Federal Reserve, in an effort to steady the housing market and the economy has pledged to keep interest rates at record low levels until mid 2013. Although consumer confidence remains low, there is hope that interest rates hovering at 3% will attract more people to purchase homes.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSignificant changes may not occur this year as the market still needs time to fully recover, but Jay Hummer, Executive Vice President and Regional Director of RE/MAX of New England said that “barring a financial catastrophe in the marketplace, it appears that we’ve hit the bottom, and we can expect to see a very slow and very gradual increase over the next couple of years.”
Home values continued to slip in 2011, but the devaluation of New England Homes occurred at a much slower pace. The Clear Capital Home Data Index reported that the average homes sales price across the United States declined by -2.1%. Rhode Island, although experiencing one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates experienced a -1.8% decrease in single family home pricing. In 2010, the average Rhode Island single family home was $271,370.
Currently, that figure stands at $266,256. Condominium sales dropped as well, falling -4.2%. The only living which saw an increase was multi-family homes which showed an uptick of 0.2%. This rise is due to interest from investment buyers in Providence and other urban areas.
Hummer has urged the public to recognize the shift in the market and states in the report that “this is a great investment opportunity and if they don’t take action, they very well may look back at this time with regret.” It may indeed be the time to buy.
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