New data released by the National Association of Realtors shows home prices improving and poised for further gains this year. During the second quarter, median existing single-family home prices rose in 100 of 147 metropolitan statistical areas compared to the same period one year earlier. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said it’s encouraging to see a growing number of metro areas with rising median prices. During the second quarter of 2011, for example, only 41 metros had improving values from the previous year. And the first quarter of this year saw only 74 cities with price gains. Also in the report, the national median existing single-family home price was $181,500, which is 7.3 percent higher than a year earlier and the strongest year-over-year increase since 2006. More here and here.
