On a national basis, the statistics for homes sold with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac were mixed in May, according the the agency that tracks those sale. The Federal Housing Finance Agency released its numbers for May 2009 on Wednesday, including a slight revision to its April numbers. On a national basis, these home prices rose 0.9 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from April to May. The previously reported 0.1 percent decline in April was revised to a 0.3 percent decline.
For the 12 months ending in May, U.S. prices fell 5.6 percent, according to the Agency index. The housing index is 10.7 percent below its April 2007 peak. The Pacific region (Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California) showed the largest improvement with a 2.7% increase from April to May. This is consistent with reports I've been hearing about the California markets improving. Prices in our region, the Mountain Census Division (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico) were down .2% in May from April.
“Revisions and volatility of the monthly index make it hard to draw any conclusions, but the seasonally-adjusted HPI [Housing Price Index] for the first five months of this year is up 0.3 percent or 0.7 percent on an annualized basis,” said FHFA Director James Lockhart. Remember, I think Flagstaff home prices will lagging the overall recovery -- that doesn't mean that we aren't at bottom, just that we may take longer to start going back up. I predict a long -- several months long -- trough. When the trough begins or ends, exactly, is anyone's guess.
To buy a Flagstaff home now, contact Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties. |
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