A new report from Clear Capital looks at the rate at which prices are increasing and compares the year-over-year growth at both the high and low ends of the market. The results show that home prices are rising faster on the low-end of the market than they are at the top. That means, lower priced homes are seeing continued price appreciation, while higher priced homes have seen prices begin to level off. Alex Villacorta, vice president of research and analytics at Clear Capital, says this should signal an opportunity for first-time home buyers and investors. “As the housing recovery continues to unfold, we are clearly seeing a growing dichotomy between the low-price tier and top-price tier market performance,” Villacorta said. “By and large, the low-price tiers of the top and bottom MSAs are significantly outperforming their top-tier counterparts.” In fact, areas with a large number of distressed properties are seeing price growth at the low end of the market outpacing the top tier by as much as 20 percent. One explanation for this could be that higher-priced homes saw smaller price declines during the housing crash and, therefore, rebounded more quickly than homes at the lower-end of the market. More here.
