BH&J Buy vs. Rent Index Shows Property Appreciation Slowing
Property appreciation is slowing in housing markets across the country as upward pressure on the demand for homeownership declines, according to the latest national index produced by 91社区 and Florida International University faculty.
鈥淯nraveling our model, we see that property price appreciation is decelerating in most of our measured 23 markets,鈥 said聽, Ph.D., a real estate professor in the聽聽and one of the creators of the聽. 鈥淟ooking back over the past few quarters, we see slowing property appreciation, which suggests that the rapid property appreciation witnessed in recent quarters is almost certainly over.鈥澛
The index measures the difference in wealth creation between renting and reinvesting versus owning the same property and building equity. BH&J scores approaching +1 strongly suggests individuals would be better off renting and reinvesting as opposed to owning and building equity. Scores approaching -1 favor home ownership over renting. Scores close to 0 suggest a tossup in terms of wealth creation between the two alternatives.
In 20 of the 23 metropolitan markets tracked in the聽聽upward pressure on the demand for homeownership is declining.
鈥淚n all but three markets 鈥 Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit 鈥 BH&J scores are declining from near record levels,鈥 said聽, Ph.D., a real estate economist and one of the creators of the BH&J Index in聽. 鈥淭his occurred prior to the housing crash a decade ago as well; however, current macro market factors, high employment and low mortgage rates, among others, should serve to buoy prices.聽聽There is a low probability that we will experience a catastrophic housing crash.鈥澛
What is going to happen next in the nation鈥檚 housing markets is an open question.聽聽Will housing markets plummet as they did over a decade ago resulting in a national crisis or will housing markets continue to appreciate at nearly record levels?
Both Johnson and Beracha agree that a likely scenario for the nation鈥檚 housing market is a 鈥渂umpy鈥 ride back to a long-term property pricing trend.聽聽
鈥淗ome prices have historically been cyclical around a long-term trend,鈥 Beracha said. 鈥淭his time around should be no different and this cycle should not be as extreme as the previous housing cycle.鈥澛
According to Johnson, what is most likely is that 鈥渨e will see slightly positive to slightly negative property appreciation rates this time around as the nation鈥檚 housing markets revert to their long-term means.鈥
The BH&J Index is published quarterly and is available online at聽. Due to data availability and the time necessary to calculate the most current index values, the index is produced two months after the end of the quarter.
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