Home Prices are Rising in Many Cities – May 2009 Data
By Brandon Cornett | 7/29/09
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In May of 2009, home prices in the United States rose for the first time in nearly three years. This is based on an index of 20 major cities in the United States. As you might imagine, this has the real estate world and all of the news circuits buzzing like bees. But what does it really mean? Well, a rise in prices is surely a good sign for our economy. Nobody can predict if they’re going to continue rising or not, but it’s certainly a positive sign — the kind we haven’t seen in a long time.
If you’re thinking about buying a home in the near future, this is something you should be paying attention to. No one can truly “time” the market, because nobody has a crystal ball. But it is possible to keep an eye on real estate trends and make a home purchase at a time when prices are near their bottom. This means that the value of your home probably won’t decrease further after you buy it, and that it will likely increase over the coming years.
For the last few years, home prices have been decreasing in most cities across the United States. Over the last few months, home prices have fallen significantly in many areas, such as Florida, California, and Nevada. So the fact that we are seeing a rise in home prices in May of 2009 should catch the attention of all future home buyers. It may very well mean that this is the best time to buy a home, given other factors such as the tax credit program, low mortgage rates, and low home prices that may start upward again.
I’m not in the market for a new home. But if I was, I would certainly think about making a move in the very near future. I would keep a close eye on the market where I wanted to buy a home, and I would make a note of what home prices were doing in that area. I would look at the last six months of data, and this would give me a good idea of whether prices were rising or falling. This is the kind of thing you should be doing, if you’re planning to buy a home soon.