Trulia: Asking Prices Have Risen for Three Straight Months

• May 3, 2012

by Shilpi Paul

Courtesy of Trulia Trends

Trulia Trends, the analytical wing of the real estate website that goes by the same name just released its latest Price and Rent Monitors, indexes of home prices and rents across the country that aim to be a better barometer of changes in prices and rents than widely followed indices like Case-Shiller. A full explanation of Trulia’s methodology can be found here, but in short, it compares current asking prices and asking rents year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, adjusting for seasonal swings.

The numbers released today found that asking prices of for-sale homes increased by 0.2 percent nationally since last year, while rents are 5.6 percent higher than 12 months ago. While rents have been increasing for a while, the rise in asking prices is a notable milestone. “This is the first time in awhile we’ve seen year-over-year asking price increases,” Jed Kolko, Trulia’s Chief Economist, told UrbanTurf, noting that asking prices have been on the rise now for three straight months.

In the DC area, asking prices are way up, rising 5.2 percent since last year. (Rents have risen by 4 percent.) While the looming wave of foreclosures entering the market will impact housing prices in many areas, Kolko believes that DC will not be as affected as places like Florida, Illinois and New Jersey.

Courtesy of Trulia Trends

Kolko gave us a bonus fact about DC: In calculating the number of construction permits issued per 1,000 housing units across the country, DC is the only major northeastern city in the top ten list, which is mostly populated by cities in Texas and North Carolina.

For more stats and analysis, click here.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/trulia_asking_prices_rise_for_three_straight_months/5490