On the way up: U.S. home prices rose at a steady pace in January, pushing prices up at a faster pace than wages and putting more homes financially out of reach for would-be buyers. As The Associated Press reports, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 4.6% in January compared with 12 months earlier. That’s up from growth of 4.4% in December. Fewer Americans have listed their homes for sale so far this year, compared to last year, and the tight supply has kept prices higher. The increases have eclipsed earnings, making it more difficult for buyers to save for a down payment and afford a monthly mortgage. Read the full story.
Reading the tea leaves: Signed contracts for previously owned homes climbed 3.1% from January to the highest level since June 2013, the National Association of Realtors says. As The Los Angeles Times reports, the February increase is a positive sign ahead of the typically busy spring selling season. Pending sales reflect signed contracts, and they usually become final within one or two months. Prospective buyers are being lured into the market by an improved job market and low mortgage rates, says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “These factors bode well for the prospect of an uptick in sales in coming months,” he says.
Booming: The U.S. apartment industry and its 36 million residents contributed $1.3 trillion and 12.3 million jobs to the economy in 2013, according to a new study commissioned by the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association. Apartment construction has been on the rise across the country for the past five years, and the study says the construction contributed $93 billion to the economy in 2013—$30 billion of which went directly to paychecks for more than 700,000 construction workers. Spending, economic contributions and earnings all increased substantially in 2013. The Huffington Post has the full story.
