"Home prices ended the first quarter of 2013 in a similar fashion to how they started the year, stable and in positive territory," said Dr. Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital.
"It has been seven years since home price growth continued throughout winter. This is very strong evidence of the start to a new leg of the recovery, one that should give further confidence to consumers and lenders alike that the recovery is real."
"As buyers become more confident the recovery is sustainable, this sentiment should grow to create a positive feedback loop."
Continue for report highlights and National and Regional map
Report highlights include:
►For the first time since 2006, quarterly home prices remained positive over winter.
► After starting the spring buying season strong, forecasts through 2013 point to continued growth.
►Yearly gains picked up momentum for the nation and three of the four regions.
"We see further evidence the recovery is maturing from the relatively rapid price correction we saw in 2012, with our forecasts showing modest gains expected over the rest of this year," said Dr. Villacorta. All in all, this is great news for housing, where prices are sustainably on the rise, demand continues to grow, and the expected supply influx should curtail any bubble-like price trend behavior."
