The housing market has defied predictions of a tepid recovery by many economists. A year ago, Moody’s Analytics Inc. said prices in 2013 would climb 1.6 percent. The company revised its projections upward for each of the last six months and now expects an increase of 7.5 percent this year. Gains probably will moderate in 2014, said Celia Chen, a Moody’s housing economist who predicts a 4 percent rise as homebuilding ramps up and underwater homeowners regain enough equity to sell.
Phoenix, Atlanta
Of the 150 metropolitan areas tracked by the National Association of Realtors, 9 out of 10 showed price increases in the first quarter from a year earlier and areas such as Silicon Valley, California; Phoenix; Atlanta; and Reno, Nevada saw gains of more than 30 percent, the group said. Prices declined in 17 markets, including Edison, New Jersey; Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; and Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“This is a good spring for sellers in a hurry,” Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia, said in a telephone interview. “Buyer demand is stronger than we’ve seen it in years and it’s been strong enough to lift sales despite tighter inventory.”
The buying frenzy was on display at a March open house in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City where the median price rose 14 percent to $515,000 in the first quarter from the prior year as the number of listings plunged 45 percent, according to Douglas Elliman Real Estate and appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. Over two hours, 300 visitors streamed into a three-story brownstone in Crown Heights and it went under contract for more than the asking price less than a week later, said Barbara Brown-Allen, a Douglas Elliman agent who represents the seller.
Brooklyn Boom
The fear of losing out on mortgage rates that are close to the lowest on record is spurring the rush, Brown-Allen said. The up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant have surged in popularity during the past year because buyers have been priced out of Manhattan and more exclusive Brooklyn neighborhoods, such as Park Slope and Cobble Hill, she said.
“It was a zoo -- sometimes there were over 100 people in the house at a time,” Brown-Allen said. “Once the inventory is this short, you have a lot of people vying for the same properties.”
Above Asking
Even in markets like Boston, where CoreLogic put home-price gains at a moderate 8 percent in March, demand is high. Often, homes spend only one day on the market, said Cliff London, a broker with the RE/MAX Home Team in the suburban town of Needham, Massachusetts.