It’s been a decade since the housing market collapsed, and home prices have finally regained their previous peak.
According to the State of the Nation’s Housing 2017 report, released today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, U.S. home prices rose 5.6 percent in 2016, beating out their pre-recession highs. Across the nation, home prices increased in 97 of the 100 largest metro areas.
While that’s a great sign for the health of the economy and great news for homeowners who saw their home values plummet in the recession, higher prices and fewer homes available on the market could keep many buyers from fulfilling their homeownership dreams.
I’ve written about this issue several times this year, and the data in the Joint Center for Housing Studies’ report underscored how serious the problem is.