Home Prices May Perk Up for the Summer

The latest Case-Shiller report reveals that the world of real estate may have good reason to be cautiously optimistic about summer 2011.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that home prices for the month of April went up by .7% overall. That’s a fantastic improvement, but what’s even better is the fact that this statistical increase isn’t just the result of a large increase in a couple of lucky cities – 13 of the 20 cities surveyed saw improvements in non-seasonally adjusted prices. Washington, DC led the way with a 3% improvement, but New York, Atlanta, and Minneapolis were close behind.
In cities which weren’t so lucky, there’s still room for optimism – analysts believe that decreasing prices are decreasing less rapidly than they did in March. Unsurprisingly, price decreases occurred in those regions with high rates of foreclosures.
Despite the signs of improvement, the mood in housing remains cautious. After all, reports of “finding the bottom” have circulated before and they haven’t exactly panned out.  But there’s no denying the sunnier summer sales projection that this April report provides (at least for the time being): foreclosure-hunters can still profit off rock-bottom prices, and everyone else can start feeling a little more secure as prices stabilize. Now all there is to do is sit back, unwrap a popsicle, and hope that the trend keeps up.