Home For Sale: US Housing Back To Pre-Boom Affordability Levels, According To Moody's Analytics

According to Moody's Analytics, home affordability returned to pre-bubble levels in a growing number of U.S. markets over the past year as price declines laid the groundwork for a housing recovery.

By a measure of median home prices to annual household incomes, housing affordability at the end of September 2010 returned or surpassed the average reached in the 1989-2003 period in 47 of 74 markets analyzed. This is significant as most economists believe the rise in housing prices begain in 2003.

According to Moody's, the ratio of home prices to annual household income reached a peak of 2.3 in late 2005. By September 2010 the ratio hit 1.6, matching the lowest level in the 35 years. Moody's pegs the average ratio at 1.9 between 1989 and 2003.

We are not "out of the woods" yet. Many housing analysts expect an additional decline of 5% to 10% in the US housing market before prices reach bottom later this year or early next year. Demand continues to be a problem as potential buyers are worried about the economy as well as lending standards that are tightening.

The real estate market remains dynamic as a whole and individual subsections, such as pockets of South Florida, always seem to be in flux. I am following the market as a whole as well as participating in the South Florida real estate market. Please feel free to contact me in regards to purchasing, selling, renting, leasing or investing in real estate.

Michael Friedman
Realtor, Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE)
Lang Realty
561-989-2100

http://michaelfriedman.rmlsfl.mlxchange.com/?Page=7395217 <--property search link to cut and paste into your Web browser

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