Conflicting figures about the US real estate market

Increased
investment in American property, a drop in prices in 2011 but the prospect of a
recovery in 2011.  These are the
conclusions of three recent pieces of research into the American property
market which paint different pictures about the state of the country’s fragile
housing market.

Investment in property in the USA sees sharp
rise in 2011

Data
from the property company Jones Lang LaSalle has found that there was a
significant increase in investment in USA property in the second quarter of
2011.  £68 billion was spent on
property in the country in April, May and June, a rise of 7 per cent on the
previous three months and a 47 per cent rise on the corresponding period in
2011.

Arthur de Haast, head of the international capital group at
Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “The upswing in activity continues, with
exceptional gains in North America – which was late to the recovery – driving
that region to the top spot in terms of volumes.”

Property in the
USA sees falls in value in 2011

While sales of property in
America may have risen in 2011, house prices are continuing to fall according
to Clear
Capital’s latest Home Data Index Market Report.  The research found that house prices fell by 3.2 per cent
during the first six months of 2011 and the company also predict that prices
will decrease by an additional 2.4 per cent before the end of the year.

Dr Alex Villacorta, Clear Capital’s director of research
and analytics, said: “We have yet to see the burst in consumer demand to
avoid posting a net loss in national prices for the year.”

Whilst prices may continue to fall in 2011, there was some
good news for the future prospects of the USA housing market.  A recent poll by Reuters found that
property prices should begin to recover in 2012, with the news provider tipping
house values to increase by 0.5 per cent.