BROOKFIELD, Wis. – U.S. housing markets have started along a path of slow but sustainable recovery, according to Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes.
Fiserv predicts that markets will increase slowly, especially at the start of 2013, projecting growth to be at an annualized rate of 3.3% from mid-2012 through the second quarter of 2017.
“The real estate market in the spring and summer of 2012 was the strongest since the peak of the bubble. There now is strong evidence for a slow, sustainable recovery on both the supply side and the demand side,” said David Stiff, chief economist, Fiserv.
Average U.S. home prices in the second quarter of 2012 increased 1.2% from the year-ago quarter, marking the first year-over-year increase in home prices since 2006, excluding the impact of the Federal home buyer’s tax credit in 2010, noted Stiff. Overall, the 2012 spring and summer real estate market was the strongest since the peak of the housing bubble, he said.
