Home Values Appreciate for 13 Consecutive Months; Zillow Makes Projections for 2013

As 2013 looms in the near future, various real estate analysts and other housing industry experts reflect on the 2012 housing market and give their predictions for the coming year.  Overall, 2012 has proved to be a positive one in regards to the housing market.

Mortgage rates are still near record lows, and across the country, a multitude of markets have experienced an increase in new-home construction, rising home prices, and an uptick in home sales.  There has been a significant influx of  prospective home buyers who have chosen to purchase new homes for sale, partly in response to growing housing markets and the fairy steady, favorable conditions.  With the heightened demand for homes, increased sales in new home communities, and many areas experiencing lowering inventory levels,  home values have increased in value by a fair amount over the course of the year.

According to Zillow’s November Real Estate Market Reports, home values increased on a national level by 0.6% from October to November.  November also represents the 13th month in a row to show home value appreciation.  When compared on a year-over-year-basis, home values rose by 5.2% in November, a rate of annual appreciation that the U.S. housing market hasn’t seen since August 2006 when the rate was at 6%.

Zillow’s November Real Estate Market Reports cover 361 metropolitan and micropolitan areas – more markets than any other source of real estate data currently available.  In November of 2012, 59% of the 361 markets showed a home value appreciation on a monthly basis, while 63% of the 361 markets saw a home value appreciation on an annual basis.

Out of the top 30 metros, 25 of them saw month-to-month home value increases, while 26 of them experienced annual home value gains.  According to Zillow’s research, national home values are, overall, 5.3% higher than they were from the post-recession trough in October 2011.

The Zillow Home Value Forecast projects a 2.5% appreciation nationally from November of this year to November of 2013.  Most markets across the country have already reached bottom and, based on Zillow’s research, 46 out of 255 markets are expected to experience home value appreciation of 3% or more over the next year.

As the end of 2012 approaches, it is appropriate to say that 2012 was indeed, as Zillow predicted, a transitional year for the U.S. housing market.  A housing recovery is in fact underway, more buyers are purchasing into new affordable home communities and home sales have increased across many markets.  Demand is high for new homes for sale and home values are much stronger than expected – up 5.3% from October 2011.  The Zillow Home Value Forecast projection of a 2.5% national home value appreciation from November 2012 to November 2013, indicates that there is still much optimism for the housing market and the coming year of 2013.