Columbia SC Housing – 4 Key Trends
Key indicators show Columbia SC housing moving in a positive direction, paving the way for an ongoing recovery, the latest Freddie Mac Economic and Housing Market Outlook shows.
"As we start 2014, the housing recovery continues its steady pace. House-price gains will likely moderate from last year's pace but rise about 5 percent in national indexes," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's vice president and chief economist.
"Home sales, as well as other key indicators, continue to trend in the right direction, although in some markets we are seeing the sales recovery strengthen while many others remain weak," Nothaft added.
Pivotal Columbia SC Housing Indicators
Pivotal Columbia SC housing indicators include December's unemployment rate of 6.7%, which remains stubbornly high.
The report indicated that it may take another two years until the labor market gets back to full employment.
Additionally, the report said that mortgage delinquency rates at 5.88% have been nearly cut in half from their peak, but they are still very high from their long term normal average of approximately 2%.
There is still room for improvement in payment-to-income ratios, which are only at 60% of the level seen in 1999 suggesting room for continued home price growth.
From 1999-2006, mortgage payments on a hypothetical 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage would have increased by 50% more than income growth.
And when measured against the single-family housing stock, home sales have historically averaged about 6% of the stock at an annual rate. With home sales at a 5.8 million pace nationwide in 2014, this rate should rise up to 5.7% for 2014.
Get more Columbia SC housing news and real estate news in general by clicking the Columbia SC Real Estate News link to your right under Columbia SC Real Estate Categories.
To stay abreast of news as it affects Columbia SC housing, as well as news affecting Columbia SC home sales, stay plugged in with us here.