U.S. Home Prices Rise More Quickly Than Expected in July

According to a report on Bloomberg.com, housing prices increased more than was forecasted in July. In year-over-year growth, the figures increased, showing a spur in economic growth.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values across 20 different cities in the nation has increased 1.2 percent from July 2011, the largest in a 12-month period since August 2010, said the report.

“We’re finally seeing a more sustained and broad-based improvement in home prices,” said Millan Mulraine, senior U.S. strategist for TD Securities in New York, in the Bloomberg article. “The housing sector has made an important turn here, and that is being sustained.”

In Whitpain Township, even steeper growth has been seen since 2011. In the past year, the prices of homes in the township has shot up from an average sale price of $375,000 in the first quarter of 2011 to a current median value of $460,414, according to statistics on City Data.com.

In the 19002 zip code, which includes Ambler Borough and part of Lower Gwynedd Township, there has also been steep growth, with the average sale price of a home $275,00 in the first quarter of 2011, to a current median value of $435,583.

Lower Gwynedd and Whitpain Townships have an average home values much higher than the state's overall average, which as of 2008, was $164,700. In the Borough of Ambler the average home price is $153,750 as of 2002. The median home price in Lower Gwynedd in 2000 was $252,344 and in Whitpain Township the median home price in 2002 was $337,500.

The national trend is spurring optimism about the nation's economy. 

“All in all, we are more optimistic about housing,” David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P index committee, said in a statement to Bloomberg.com. “Stronger housing numbers are a positive factor for other measures including consumer confidence.”