Pool builders and retailers were cheered today by news from a major index of home prices that 2013’s first quarter brought strong increases in nearly every major market in the U.S. Nationally, according to an index tracking 20 large U.S. cities, home prices in March rose by 10.9% from a year earlier, the largest such gain in seven years.
This is a very encouraging report for our industry because pool and spa sales track the housing market like a bloodhound.
All 20 cities in the index posted year-over-year growth for the third straight month, the result of tightening home inventories and growing demand. There are signs that prices may sustain their momentum at least for the near future as the inventory of homes for sale has remained low and lenders continue to offer rock-bottom interest rates.
“Phoenix again had the largest annual increase at 22.5% followed by San Francisco with 22.2% and Las Vegas with 20.6%, said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Miami and Tampa, the eastern end of the Sunbelt, were softer with annual gains of 10.7% and 11.8%. The weakest annual price gains were seen in New York (+2.6%), Cleveland (+4.8%) and Boston (+6.7%), but even these numbers are quite substantial.
“Other housing market data reported in recent weeks confirm these strong trends: housing starts and permits, sales of new and existing homes continue to trend higher."
Blitzer added a note of caution to the otherwise scintillating report. “At the same time,” he said, “the larger than usual share of multi-family housing, the large number of homes still in some stage of foreclosure and buying-to-rent by investors all suggest that the housing recovery is not complete.”
