While the country as a whole as recovered from the housing crisis, there are still some areas that are seeing a decrease in home sales when compared to the previous year. As you can see from NAR’s existing Homes Sales Report, the trend for year-over-year home sales is dependent upon which region of the country you’re in. In the West, home sales have dropped a little more than 10%, however the further East you move across the country, the more of an increase there is.
The good news, however, is that nationwide, home prices have been increasing year-over-year according to Case and Shiller. There was point in 2012 where prices skyrocketed and now have slowed down but are still experiencing steady growth. This could be due to a number of different factors, such as a decrease in housing inventory throughout the country as well as an increased number of buyers. Many analysts familiar with the real estate market believe that while the real estate market stabilized last year, it will continue to grow in 2014.
