U.S. home sales continued to increase during the month of June, according to DataQuick's monthly Property Intelligence Report.
Home sales increased in 40 of the report's 42 examined counties last month. There was a marked increase in home sales in Seattle and Portland, which saw sales activity increase 21% and 17%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis. In addition, home prices in both of those areas increased by more than 17% year over year.
The report measures trends in the 42 largest counties. It also takes into account REO inventory.
The report for June finds that home prices increased over the past month, past quarter and past year in 40 of the 42 counties that are tracked.
In addition, home sales increased in 40 of the 42 counties during the past month, in 36 of the 42 over the past quarter and in 30 of the 42 during the past year.
Foreclosures decreased in 20 of the 42 counties tracked over the past month, in 25 of the 42 over the last quarter and in 30 of the 42 over the last year.
The only two counties that did not report an increase in home sales activity were Queens County, N.Y., and Oakland County, Mich. – the county for the city of Detroit.
‘Despite lingering concern about the continued strength of the recovery, we are beginning to see a pattern of consistent housing growth spreading to more regions across the country,’ said Gordon Crawford, Ph.D., vice president of analytics for DataQuick. ‘Last month, we focused on strong housing performance in the Rocky Mountain area, and we are now seeing that same kind of growth in the Northwest. In fact, nearly every market in the report saw home sale improvement of some kind during the month.’
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