The trend of growth in the United States housing market has proven to be stronger than anticipated and is expected to continue on a modest upward trend in the remainder of 2012, according to property economist Paul Diggle from Capital Economist. Diggle believes that the housing market in the United States has finally turned a corner and that the growth recorded already will be sustainable in the future.
"Some of the pickup in the US housing market this year has been seasonal, but the improvement has been stronger than we normally expect during the buying season," Diggle says. "So we think in short that this is sustainable recovery. Now the reason it is sustainable is that it has been driven by extremely low level of house prices in the US and housing is now extremely affordable and looks well valued relative to incomes."
Diggle goes on to add that the recovery is being assisted by the slowly improving wider economy in the United States, though the real rise that has been witnessed in terms of sales of investors is also very important. Investors are certainly taking advantage of the chance to build a portfolio of homes in the United States and then rent them out to those households who cannot afford to buy them.
Diggle does not believe that there will be any significant impact on the housing market in the United States regardless of whether Barrack Obama or Mitt Romney wins the upcoming Presidential election, noting that there is not a big difference in their policies in regards to the housing sector. The Obama administration intends to continue to encourage refinancing and help people to benefit from low interest rates, while a Romney administration would see efforts to increase the amount of lending given to mortgage borrowers.
