Housing market shows early signs of healing

Real estate sales reports for the month of April are just starting to be released by local realtor associations, and the the reports out today are showing some strong signs of recovery in both unit sales and/or home prices in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nashville, Des Moines, the D.C. area, Baltimore and Reno. 

Some key reports today on architecture billings, existing home sales, and new residential construction provide additional evidence that a U.S. housing recovery is underway:

The latest LPS HPI Release suggests home prices are flattening out if not bottoming. Data is from February. Highlights

Let’s not argue over whether Canada is the proud owner of a pretty pink housing balloon or a black bubble because either way, they both can pop.

Nationally, home sales fell in May by 3.8% from April and by 15.3% from May last year, but home sales in Florida were booming in May, with strong gains in condo sales, especially in the Miami leading, leading the boom.  

Carnegie Endowment submits:The collapse of the U.S. housing market was a critical cause of the Great Recession and sustained growth in this sector is necessary for the stimulus-driven economic recovery to succeed. After improving in late 2009 and early 2010, the housing market appears to be weakening again following the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit.