U.S. housing market gets a spring revival

Leah Schnurr and Jilian Mincer, Reuters May 29, 2012 – 1:14 PM ET | Last Updated: May 29, 2012 2:36 PM ET NEW YORK –

Kate Carpenter and her husband waited for two years before sensing the time was right to look to buy a home in the suburbs of New York. “This is the first time homes are at an affordable point,” said the freelance writer, 35. She hopes to move her two young daughters out of their rented New York City apartment soon, taking advantage of record low mortgage rates and signs the slump is over. Six years after the housing market began its slide, dragging the U.S. economy into recession, this year’s spring season — traditionally the busiest period for home sales — is shaping up to be the strongest since the crash. Sales rose more than 10% in April from a year earlier and may end the year up by as much as 13%, according to the National Association of Realtors. Prices, which plunged by a third from 2006 according to some measures, are rising in some cities. Realtors report bidding wars, albeit more modest ones than during the bubble years, and buyers are snapping up homes much more quickly than only a few weeks ago. “We have more buyers than we have houses to sell,” said April Bolin, a realtor in Riverside, California, considered one of the epicenters of the U.S. housing crash. “We have multiple bids all the time. I recently sold a property that had 10 offers in three days,” Bolin said.

URL to original article: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/05/29/u-s-housing-market-gets-a-spring-revival/

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