Submitted by Natalie Ransom, REALTOR®
The rate of home-price declines improved in July in the top 20 U.S. cities, and Atlanta posted a rise.
The average price of a home in Atlanta rose 2.3 percent from June to July, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which are monthly reports that track home prices in 20 major U.S. cities. However, the average price of a home in Atlanta was down 11.8 percent year over year in July.
Nationally, the top 20 cities reported an average 1.6 percent increase in home prices from June to July. But the average price if a home in America was down 13.3 percent year over year in July.
Standard & Poor’s officials see some sort of housing rebound.
“The rate of annual decline in home price values continues to decelerate and we now seem to be witnessing some sustained monthly increases across many of the markets,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “… These figures continue to support an indication of stabilization in national real estate values, but we do need to be cautious in coming months to assess whether the housing market will weather the expiration of the Federal First-Time Buyer’s Tax Credit in November, anticipated higher unemployment rates and a possible increase in foreclosures.”
The survey tracks changes in the value of the residential real estate market by comparing sale prices of specific sample homes in a city at two different times.
The survey assigns an index number to each city and does not report actual home prices. The index is a measure of how much home prices have gone up or down in each market since January 2000, which has been assigned a price index of 100 in that market.
For the entire article on the Atlanta Business Chronicle, please click here.