Columbia SC real estate news is looking very positive for a change. Several housing 
price indexes were released that show things swinging upward in multiple categories.
The Commerce Department and HUD reported new home sales rose 3.3 percent month-over-month in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000, up from 332,000 in March. On a yearly basis, new home sales rose 9.9 percent.
Columbia SC Real Estate Inventory Down
And, the good news did not end there. The months’ supply of inventory fell to 5.1, and while sales were down in the South, they were up in Northeast, Midwest, and West.
The National Association of Realtor’s existing home sales report showed the sale of existing homes rose 3.4 percent on a monthly basis and 10 percent year-over-year.
Columbia SC real estate news is certainly starting to regain some semblance of normality, even though the market still has a long way to go to catch up to the housing boom of 2005.
As median Columbia SC home prices creep higher, that is bound to re-ignite the big question for scores of buyers: Is this the right time to buy?
As prices begin to firm and that information filters down to buyers, the “fence-sitters” will be enticed to make offers as well, especially with mortgage rates hovering near record lows.
A large overhang of homes in foreclosure or in danger of foreclosure are still sandbagging some markets. Nationwide, NAR reported foreclosures and short sales (homes sold for less than what is owed on the owner’s mortgage) comprised 28 percent of the April sales (17 percent were foreclosures and 11 percent were short sales). But that was down from 29 percent in March and 37 percent in April 2011, where analysts also contend that a diminishing share of foreclosed property sales is helping home values.
Columbia SC housing prices have already bottomed out and are on the rise. Other than a brief stumble in December, asking prices have been steady or rising for the last 8 months. 
Rents are also on the increase, rising 5.6 percent nationally, year-over-year. Rents have steadily increased as people who lost their homes in the crash became renters. At the same time, high unemployment and tight credit sidelined would-be homeowners.
Relief for strapped renters may be in sight, however. Construction of multi-family buildings increased last year. These new rental units should start coming to market later this year, giving renters more choices and less competition.
Columbia SC Housing Prices Already Bottomed
Nationwide, asking prices of homes for sale is up 0.5 percent for April, marking the 3rd consecutive month of rising asking prices.
According to the Trulia Price Monitor, 44 out of the 100 largest metro areas nationwide had year-over-year price increases, with 92 percent showing quarter-over-quarter increases.
New Columbia SC Housing Also Recovering
New Columbia SC housing starts are more than 30 percent higher than their low in early 2009, and asking prices on those new for-sale homes have risen for three months in a row.
Localized risk of a brief downturn in prices does exist due to the pending foreclosures that could set prices back in the downward direction, but it’s believed that would be a short term setback for prices.
Since we’re in an election year, we’re not likely to see any new bold housing stimulus plans out of Washington. The political atmosphere is too charged for agreement on major housing policy issues now. And, because the market is now recovering, there’s less of a sense of urgency than there was several years ago.
We’d love to know what you think. Are Columbia SC housing prices finally on the upswing, or do you still see prices dropping? As you well know, real estate is very local, and there could be pockets of still diminishing prices, although the overall Columbia SC housing outlook seems brighter. We’d love to hear your comments.
Columbia SC housing inventories are down. The National Association of Realtors 
(NAR) reports that inventories fell by 1.3 percent in March, leaving inventories 21.8 percent below their year-earlier levels.
Home sales have now posted year-over-year gains in each of the last nine months. But in almost all of those months, the number of homes for sale has declined.
3 Reasons to Explain Why Columbia SC Housing Inventories Have Fallen:
- With home prices down by one-third from their peak, who wants to sell a house right now if they don’t have to? That’s especially true for the roughly 15% of homeowners who are underwater on their mortgage.
- Banks have decelerated the foreclosure process after they were caught routinely passing off bogus documents to demonstrate ownership. That has slowed the pace at which they’re putting Columbia SC homes back up for sale.
- While investors initially were buying up Columbia SC foreclosures that could be fixed and flipped, or resold, for a quick profit, over the past two years, more investors have been buying inexpensive homes that can be rented out. Those homes are, for the most part, out of the for-sale pool for the near-term.
Columbia SC Housing Inventories Down Only Temporarily?
Of these three reasons for Columbia SC housing inventories to be down, the first two would imply that the downturn in listings is artificial, and possibly temporary. But the role of investors in today’s market could make the drop more lasting.
The NAR report also showed that the West was the only part of the country to see a year-over-year decline in sales during the month of March. The drop was almost solely concentrated around properties priced below $100,000, where sales were down 19 percent.
Are there any other reasons you can think of that would be causing Columbia SC housing inventories to be unusually low right now? We’d love to hear your comments.
Columbia SC home prices rose for the first time in 10 months, according to the 
S&P/Case Shiller composite index released recently, an encouraging sign the battered housing sector is starting to stabilize.
It was the first time home prices have gained since April 2011. That gain was itself an anomaly in a string of declines stretching back to May 2010.
Columbia SC Home Prices Likely to Remain Weak
Yale economics professor Robert Shiller, the co-creator of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, believes the Columbia SC housing market is likely to remain weak and may take a generation or more to rebound.
Shiller, the co-creator of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, told Reuters Insider a weak labor market, high gas prices and a general sense of unease among consumers was outweighing low mortgage rates and would likely keep a lid on home prices for the foreseeable future.
David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, cautioned that while there were some pieces of good news in the report, some areas saw home prices still continuing their decline.
The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.2 percent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, matching economists’ forecasts. Seven of the cities saw home prices drop on a seasonally adjusted basis, while home prices in two cities were unchanged. On an unadjusted basis, 16 of the areas slumped further.
Home prices in the 20 cities fell 3.5 percent year over year, moderating from the previous month’s decline of 3.8 percent.
“Looking forward, we think homes sales will continue to trend upward, which ultimately will result in a slower rate of home value depreciation,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow. “But any housing recovery will be dependent on job growth. Continued progress in this area is essential to keeping the housing recovery, such as it is, on track.”
Higher Columbia SC home prices are expected by 33 percent of consumers over the next year. Fannie Mae’s March housing survey indicated 5 percent more people expect Columbia SC home prices to increase this month over the 27 percent surveyed last month who thought prices would increase this year.
Nearly half of consumers expect higher rental prices as well, the highest number registered by Fannie Mae since its monthly tracking began in June 2010. Americans’ rental price expectations for the next year continue to rise, reaching their record high level for the Fannie Mae survey this month.
The percentage of respondents who say it is a good time to buy rose by three points to 73 percent, the highest level in more than a year, while the percentage of respondents who say it is a good time to sell rose one point to 14 percent this month.
Consumers’ confidence about their own finances is stabilizing, with 44 percent expecting an improvement over the next year.
Higher Mortgage Rates Expected
There is an increasing share of consumers expecting both higher mortgage rates and Columbia SC home prices over the next 12 months.
Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae says, “Americans’ rental price expectations for the next year continue to rise, reaching their record high level for our survey this month.”
Duncan says, “Some may feel that renting is becoming more costly and that home ownership is a more compelling housing choice. Conditions are coming together to encourage people to want to buy homes.”
While the “sales of existing homes in January and February marked the strongest start to a year since 2007,” according to the combined Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/Treasury statement. “Data on home prices changed little from the previous month – marking a fifth month of seasonal lows.”
For further Fannie Mae survey findings, visit the Fannie Mae Monthly National Housing site.