Reports Cite More Home Market Strength
Two new reports indicate growing strength for the nation’s housing market.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), which represents the real estate finance industry, said today that mortgage applications for purchases of new homes rose a seasonally non-adjusted 14 percent in July over June.
Meanwhile, the average loan size for borrowers buying new homes increased from $283,111 in June to $288,382 in July, a jump of nearly 2 percent.
In a separate report, more than 100 experts polled said they expect home values to increase 6.7 percent by the end of the year, which, if true, would be a jump from the 5.4-percent increase for 2012 cited by Zillow, the real estate information website. In a survey conducted quarterly survey, 106 economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists said they expect median U.S. home values to rise to $167,490 by the end of this year, up from $156,900 at the end of 2012 and $161,100 currently. Based on current expectations for home value appreciation over the next five years, the panelists on average predicted that home values in 2017 could approach the previous peak level of $194,600 set in May 2007, according to a statement from Zillow.
The panelists expect annual home value appreciation rates this year to end strongly, before slowing considerably from 2014 through 2017, the statement said.
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