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Thursday, August 07, 2014

Trulia: Asking House Prices up 7.8% year-over-year in July

by Calculated Risk on 8/07/2014 01:11:00 PM

Note: Trulia corrected the Year-over-year change in the post from 8.1% to 7.8% for July.

From Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko: Home Price Gains Now Driven More By Jobs Than By Rebound Effect

The month-over-month increase in asking home prices of 0.8% was in line with the average monthly gain over the past year, settling back down after a 1.2% month-over-month in June. ... Although prices aren’t rising as fast as they did in spring 2013, price increases continue to be widespread, with 97 of 100 metros posting year-over-year price gains, and 94 posting quarter-over-quarter gains.

As the rebound effect diminishes, local housing markets need to depend more on job growth, which is a more sustainable driver of housing demand. So are they? We compared year-over-year asking price gains in July 2014 with year-over-year job gains in December 2013, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) in the 100 largest U.S. metros. Clearly, housing markets with higher asking-price gains have faster job growth ... A year ago, the pattern was different: in July 2013, home price changes were more highly correlated with the peak-to-trough price decline than with job growth (year-over-year in December 2012). Over the past year, therefore, the rebound effect has weakened, and as prices continue to return to long-term normal levels the rebound effect will continue to fade. Local housing markets will rely more on jobs and wages to support housing demand and home prices – which is another step on the road to recovery.
...
Job Growth Boosts Rents in Largest U.S. Rental Markets
Rents rose more than 10% year-over-year in five large rental markets – San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, Denver, and Miami. These five markets all had job growth ranging from solid to stellar.Overall, rents rose 6.1% nationally, with rents increasing more in markets with faster job growth.
emphasis added
Note: These asking prices are SA (Seasonally Adjusted) - and adjusted for the mix of homes - and this suggests further house price increases over the next few months on a seasonally adjusted basis.