Average US home now costs $100,000

The US property market is continuing to show health, as average prices rose by 0.4 per cent between July and August, propertywire.com reports.

According to the Zillow Home Value Index, American properties now cost an average of $162,100 (£100,821). Whilst this only represents a 0.4 per cent monthly increase, the annual growth is closer to 6.6 per cent. This makes for the largest gain seen since July 2006 – long before the financial crash began impacting values.

In yet more good news, this growth is said to have been laid on solid foundations, as values have now grown for three consecutive months.

Specifically, 85 per cent of the 382 regions counted in the Index posted annual growth. For the 30 largest, 20 had seen rises of 10 per cent or higher. These included Sacramento and Las Vegas, which managed to achieve 34.1 and 30.6 per cent growth respectively.

Looking ahead to the next yearly period (August 2013 – 2014), forecasters have claimed that growth would continue at roughly 5.2 per cent. This would make average property prices $170,500 (£106,045), thus providing a good return for overseas property investors that manage to find homes in the USA soon.

Commenting on the Index, Zillow chief economist Stan Humphreys told marketwatch.com: “August marked the end of one of the hottest summer home shopping seasons in years, as home value appreciation rates continued their rocket ride upwards – perhaps dangerously so in some metro areas.

“Double-digit appreciation rates do help to lift homeowners out of negative equity and to entice sellers into a low-inventory environment.”