Standard & Poor’s reported that U.S. home prices rose 0.9 percent in July for their fourth straight big monthly gain, but, after seasonal factors are taken into account, home prices were about flat for the fourth straight month, a reminder of both the weak fundamentals for the U.S. housing market and seasonal summer strength for home sales as shown below.
(Click chart to expand)
Index Committee Chairman David Blitzer noted, “While we have now seen four consecutive months of generally increasing prices, we do know that we are still far from a sustained recovery” and this likely understates the problems ahead for housing as the U.S. and much of the world appears ready to enter (or is already in) a recession.
Sadly, home prices rose again in Washington D.C., and it was one of only two regions indicating year-over-year gains (along with the housing basket-case known as Detroit). Perhaps a good indication that the national economy is on a sustained path to recovery will be when home price in the nation’s capital begin to fall sharply, rather than continue their recent rise due to all the borrowed and printed money that continues to gush.
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