With home prices on the rise, is our nation heading into another housing bubble that could be detrimental to our economy? Most real estate experts say no. Experts at Trulia and the National Association of Realtors suggest the slow, sustainable pace that home prices are rising is a sign the market is getting back to normal.

Moving forward, it’s likely the United States will see a slow increase due to three main reasons: (1) increased housing inventory, (2) higher mortgage rates, and (3) the inflated prices turning away investors.

As our nation creeps out of a recession, signs of the improved housing market can be seen through statistics over the past few years. Here is a small sample of facts that lead experts to believe our housing market is slowly back to becoming healthy and sustainable.

• Although slowing down, home prices are still increasing. July sales in 2013 increased 0.6% compared to last year’s 8.7%, according to Lender Processing Services U.S. Home Price Index.
• The annual rate of existing home sales was over 5 million, well above the market consensus.
• Even with the summer slowdown, prices are still rising over 10% annually, according to Trulia.
• The average national home price is $231,000. During the housing peak, the national average in June 2006 was $270,000, according to Lender Processing Services.

The issue of housing recovery seems to rely the most upon the local economy. Change is felt differently from city to city. The five largest areas of the nation saw a decrease in price growth, with California experiencing the most change. Los Angeles saw a drop in growth in June of last year at 0.3% and this June at 1.6%. However, Texas saw the greatest increase in home prices. Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin saw the greatest improvements.

As our nation recovers from the housing crisis, strengthening local economies and expanding mortgage credit are important factors to building a stable housing market. As the market continues to take shape and home sales begin to flourish, it’s important for businesses within the real estate industry to sharpen their skills. Blue Streak Docs is a document retrieval company dedicated to streamlining real estate details and increasing accuracy of reporting. We provide property reports, title searches, judgment search reports, current owner searches, and much more to real estate attorneys and mortgage professionals. For more information about our services, feel free to contact us today at 727.479.0007.