Construction Increases and Pricing Stabilization Helps Steady Growth of Real Estate

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), home prices and new home prices are beginning to level off.  Prices are still on the rise – 4.4% in the second quarter of 2014, over the same time in 2013.  However, this increase is still less than the 1st quarter price increases from 2013 which was an 8.3% increase.  When the housing market began its recovery, home prices skyrocketed causing major concern in interested parties.  The worry was that the prices would increase so much, they would create another housing bubble.  All throughout 2013, the real estate market technically “recovered,” and now with the slow in housing price increases, the market may finally be stabilizing.

Another important and vital factor to the stabilization and sustained health of the housing market is the increased pace of new home construction.  Builders providing a selection of new home inventory allows buyers to have more of a choice in the house that they would like to buy.  A lack of supply increases demand which raises prices.  With a full inventory of homes for sale, demand is stabilized, so prices come back to an industry average which helps with price stabilization. Total inventory of existing homes reached 2.3 million by the end of June 2014. That was 6.5 percent more than a year ago.

Due to a harsher than normal winter, home sales fell behind approximately 5% in the 1st quarter of 2014, but in the 2nd quarter new home sales and home sales increased.  Real estate sales are expected to match or even exceed sales number of 2013.  In 2011 and 2012, a lot of the sales were “playing catch-up” with the existing inventory which had sat for awhile after the collapse of real estate in 2008. 2013 seemed to reflect one the first “normal” years post-Recession.

In St. Tammany Parish, pricing did fall slightly in the slower years, but for the most part, homes in Mandeville, Covington, Madisonville, and Abita Springs held their value except for hard-hit pockets here and there.  From the point of view of a builder, our buyers get a substantial “bang for their buck” when building a new custom home with Ron Lee Homes in St. Tammany Parish. You can view the types of Projects we build as well as find out more information about our Homes for Sale by Contacting Us directly at 985-626-7619 or E-mailing Info@RonLeeHomes.com.