The Great Housing Rebound of 2012

By Christopher Matthews TIME Without a doubt, the U.S. housing market has been the most successful sector of the economy this year, and Wednesday’s Case-Shiller home price index report — which showed a fifth consecutive month of year-over-year increases in home prices nationwide — was a late Christmas present for homeowners across the country. The housing market “bottom” was one of the biggest business stories of 2012. After years of falling home values, the data clearly showed that the bleeding stopped somewhere in the first part of 2012, and that home prices have actually begun to slowly rise since then. In addition, other indicators like housing starts, new home sales, and foreclosure statistics all point toward a healing housing sector. These dynamics have gotten some economists and market analysts excited about the growth prospects for the U.S. economy in 2013. Robert Johnson, director of economic analysis for Morningstar, called housing, “the big change factor in 2013,” and believes that “direct housing investment will be a meaningful contributer” to economic growth in 2013. He also sees industries related to housing — like furniture manufacturing and sales — adding to economic growth in 2013 as the housing market begins to pick up.

A Corner Turned for the Real Estate Market in 2012

After 2011, Real Estate was looking for any signs of improvement in 2012 and it looks like some relief is sight. The relief came in the form of minor jumps in multiple areas in the Real Estate Industry. Forbes reported a drop in Vacancy Rates from 3.0 to 2.1 percent, which is much closer to our average of 1.5 percent. New Construction had its largest gains in the month of October since July of 2008. New Construction units built in 2011 came in around 600,000 and now in 2012 analyst show a jump to 750,000 units built. Forecasters for the economy expect that 2013 New Construction will reach above 1,000,000 units built. Forbes stating that the New Construction is the best news to come out of 2012. However, we need about 1.5 million new units to match population growth. New Construction is important because it creates an average of three jobs per new unit for a year and $90,000 in tax revenue. Some of the factors noted to helping the Real Estate market, our economy that is improving slightly, number of people looking for homes and the inventory dropping.