Publications

Signs of Rebuilding in Housing?

A current Atlanta Fed SouthPoint blog post reports that the housing market in the Southeast is improving slowly. Staff from the Atlanta Fed's Center for Real Estate Analytics summarize feedback from recent surveys and meetings with industry representatives. According to their findings, sales of new and existing homes increased on a year-over-year basis in April. The researchers note that improvements are uneven in terms of scope and size and vary by market. Citing some reasons for the pickup in activity, respondents indicated that attractive pricing, increasing levels of consumer confidence, and an overall improvement in the credit quality of mortgage applicants were key factors.