New data out today show the Western U.S., including California, is leading the country in home price recovery. The numbers compare home values nationwide from the past four months – March through June – with the previous three months – December through February.
“The West out-performed all of the regions that we track, came in very strong with a 3.5% quarterly gain, on the year-over-year it’s up 4%," said Alex Villacorta. Villacorta is with the Truckee-based house-price tracking firm Clear Capital, which released the numbers.
California by itself saw a 2.8% quarterly gain and year-over-year growth of 2%. About one-in-three-homes is still bank-owned or an “REO.”
Villacorta says one factor that’s driving price growth is rental rates are increasing and vacancies are decreasing, creating a demand for more rental inventory and driving up values of homes in the lower end of the price spectrum.
“There’s a lot of distressed inventory out there ready for tenants to move right in after some repairs. So with that dynamic, we’re really seeing this resurgence of REOs now being a desired asset. In California we see this especially."
Villacorta projects prices in California will increase another 5% over the next six-months
