The latest data released by Clear Capital has shown that house prices rose by 2% over the last quarter, and there were double digit gains posted in a number of metro areas. Those areas at the bottom of the index saw their prices start to stabilize.
Director of research and analytics at Clear Capital, Alex Villacorta, said: "July home price trends continued to show promise at a time when the strength of the broader economy is in question on many fronts. The national housing market defied the drag of a softening economy with increasing gains of 2% over the last rolling quarter. Housing gains in the West continued to lead the nation, and more importantly, for the second month in a row, the price rebound has broken out of the low price tier segments into higher priced homes."
Although some risks still exist in the market, Chang believes that the property market has the potential to enter a loop of positive feedback, which will see rising prices lead to increased confidence. In turn, this will push prices higher again.
The 2% gain in the second quarter of 2012 on top of the 1.7% gain that was witnessed in the first quarter of the year. The South of the country saw gains of 1.5%, while in the West and Midwest there were gains of 4.4 and 3.1% respectively. The Northeast saw the smallest gains of just 0.4%, which was down slightly on the 0.8% it witnessed the quarter before.
