Home Prices Buck Black Friday Discounting

In September, housing prices rose all over the country according to both the S&P/Case-Shiller composite home price index and the Lender Processing Services Home Price Index – a good sign for markets everywhere, from luxury homes in Austin to seaside cottages in Portland.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index showed home prices gaining 3% over September 2011. Just as importantly, that index marked its sixth straight month of home price increases. The Lender Processing Services index, which has a harsher adjustment for foreclosure sales, reported a price increase of 3.6% year-over-year in September.

Both indices showed broad strength in the national real estate markets. In the S&P/Case-Shiller index, 18 of the 20 cities surveyed showed gains in home prices, with only Chicago dropping .7% from August. Atlanta, which had been hit hard by the housing bubble and lagging in recovery, posted a 1.7% increase in home prices from the previous month.

“Austin was insulated from the bubble pop compared to cities like Atlanta,” Austin REALTOR Brian Talley said, “but prices both here and nationally are still below their peak values of about six years ago, making it an excellent time to either upgrade or stop renting.”

On a not-seasonally-adjusted basis, several metros showed month-to-month declines, a function of the fact that consumers generally like to buy homes in the spring and summer in order to get their children settled for the upcoming school year, a trend especially true in neighborhoods with desirable school districts like homes for sale in Eanes ISD or Steiner Ranch. Non-seasonally adjusted decliners included northern cities like Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, and New York, with the south, including Austin, left relatively unscathed by signs of decline.

However, the fact that almost all markets registered gains on a seasonally adjusted basis shows just how strong the national recovery is. Recovery in all markets is key to the best possible success in local and regional markets, like the Austin metro area.