House Sales, Prices on the Upswing

Home prices nationally are on the rise again, according to a new report issued by the Standard &Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The average sale price rose 3.1 percent during the third quarter of 2009, the same percent increase reported during the second quarter.  On the downside, that statistic is still nine percent lower than the number reported one year ago.

In Chicago, prices rose 1.1 percent from August on a seasonally adjusted basis.  Local prices were still 10.6 percent below the level reported for September of 2008, the fifth consecutive month to report an increase.  At the same time, Chicago-area home sales jumped by one-third in October, compared to a year ago, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors.   The group cited lower home prices, affordable mortgage rates and the federal tax credit for first-time buyers as reasons for the rise.

According to David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s, “We have seen broad improvement in home prices for most of the past six months.”  Case-Shiller’s 20-City Composite index rose 0.3 percent compared with the August numbers.  The city with the worst-performing market is Las Vegas, where prices have fallen for 37 months in a row and now are 55.4 percent off their highs.  Chicago home prices rose 1.2 percent during the third quarter.

In another snapshot of the housing market, a report from First American CoreLogic revealed that nearly 25 percent of all mortgage borrowers are underwater.  This condition, as well as the high number of foreclosures, raise doubts about the staying power of the recent upward price trend.