Housing Market Turning the Corner After Five-Year Slump
Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- For the first time in five years, home prices have posted an annual increase, says real estate information firm Zillow.
The rise is small -- just 0.2 percent -- but after a long, deep slump the market is looking up.
"After four months with rising home values and increasingly positive forecast data, it seems clear that the country has hit a bottom in home values," says Zillow's Chief Economist Stan Humphries. "The housing recovery is holding together despite lower-than-expected job growth, indicating that it has some organic strength of its own."
The largest price rise over the past 12 months -- 12.3 percent -- came in Phoenix, one of the hardest-hit markets during the housing bust.
The Zillow Home Value Forecast shows that in most markets prices will rise modestly over the next year.
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