Olympic Sized Housing Markets
As the world gets ready to light the torch in London and the US economy still struggles for solid footing, the US housing markets are still a pretty anxious place to be on the wrong side of. There are recent reports which say a variety of things but just like the Olympic community of world athletes it takes the community of the world to make any real sense of something as increasingly global as the US housing markets. This global community may frighten some off but this is the way of our interconnected world.
World Interest: One of the earliest signs of a strengthening economy and a bottomed out and turning around US housing markets may be recent news that foreign interest in US real estate has cooled off.
When the domestic housing markets were tanking and people were being run out from their homes with a pitchfork and a broomstick, foreign investors were glad to swoop in and pick up these value plays as part of their comprehensive real estate portfolio. Foreign investment in US housing was one of the reasons that many of the bigger cities; New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston; never saw the same pain which even nearby suburbs did. Foreign investors always want a cheap bungalow on Mulholland Drive or a penthouse in Battery Park City. Now that things have turned around in the domestic housing markets and the suburban real estate surrounding these cities has improved, the foreign interest in having these properties has relinquished.
Bottoms Up: Another strong sign of the US housing market and its increased strength is more recent news that the “US home values post first annual increase in nearly five years.” This fact goes right along with the point about foreign investment and says that the United States is early in the marathon of a composite housing recovery.
Zillow's Home Index says the home values median numbers have risen consecutively for four months. This was the first time we have seen consistent, consecutive movement like that since numbers from the year 2007. The Zillow report covers 156 markets and it indicates that there should be a 1.1% increase over the next 12 months in at least 67 of these markets.
People are always going to need somewhere to live. As all the nation and the world’s best athletes congregate in London to compete at this summer’s Olympic Games, investors and savvy business people should remember this. Whether your angle is for an investment property or you are looking for something more sustainable and somewhere that you can refurbish and flip or fix up and retire in, you need to realize that this huge Olympic sized pool of empty inexpensive homes won’t be here forever.
If ever you had thought of picking up somewhere to buy that is your own, this new news of this slowly recovering domestic housing market could be one of your last best chances.
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