California home prices near 4-year high

California home sale prices came close to a 4-year high in July, with the pace of sales year-over-year growing for the fourth month in a row, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® reported.

The median home price in July for an existing single-family home was up 4.2 percent in June and nearly 13 percent from a year ago.

July’s median home price was the highest since August 2008.  July also marked the fifth consecutive month that the median price increased month-over-month and year-over-year.
 
Sales in July rose to an annualized pace of 529,230 homes, an increase of 15.3 percent compared with last July.

Full Story: http://lansner.ocregister.com/2012/08/20/california-home-sales-near-4-year-high/165628/

Asking prices rise for sixth consecutive month

Asking prices on for-sale homes – which lead sales prices by approximately two or more months – increased 0.5 percent in July compared with June, according to Trulia’s Price Monitor.  This marked the sixth consecutive monthly gain.  For the first time, a majority (62 out of 100) of large metros had year-over-year price increases.

Full Story:  http://info.trulia.com/trulia-price-and-rent-monitor-july-2012

Home Prices Rise in June

CoreLogic recently reported that home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 2.5 percent in June 2012 compared to June 2011, according to its June Home Price Index report. On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased 1.3 percent in June 2012 compared with May 2012. The June 2012 figures mark the fourth consecutive increase in home prices nationally on both a year-over-year and month-over-month basis.
Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationwide increased 3.2 percent on a year-over-year basis in June 2012. On a month-over-month basis excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 2 percent, the fifth consecutive month-over-month increase. Distressed sales include short sales and REO transactions.

Full Story: http://www.corelogic.com/about-us/news/corelogic-june-home-price-index-rises-2.5-percentrepresenting-fourth-consecutive-year-over-year-increase.aspx

For renters, buying a home pays off after three years on average

A new analysis by real estate website Zillow shows that, on average, a renter thinking about buying a home will reach what it calls the “break-even horizon,” after just three years.  The break-even horizon compares what it would cost to buy or rent the same home in a number of U.S. markets over time.
Full Story: http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-rent-or-own-20120802,0,6114437.story