CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Despite early concerns that home prices would bottom-out like they did during the Great Recession, a survey finds home prices continued to accelerate in April - but they could be down by next spring and inventory of entry level homes has taken a dive.
Nationally, home values rose 5.4-percent annually in April, a sharp increase from the 4.5 percent annual increase in March.
Dr. Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist at CoreLogic said in the Chicago metro area prices also continue to rise. They were up 1.8-percent in April compared to a year ago.
"We have actually seen a great deal of demand by first-time home buyers and millennials. They have looked around and they see the record low level of mortgage rates that we currently have in the marketplace, and that has really improved affordability," he said.
And Nothhaft said they expect mortgage rates to stay extremely low over the next several months.
The inventory of entry-level homes for sale fell 25-percent this April compared to last year. Nothaft said "Inventory have been particularly lean, even at the start of this year, prior to the pandemic. Once the pandemic hit, then we saw a number of listings actually get withdrawn from multiple listing services and there has been a delay of home sellers listing their homes on the market, especially with everyone sheltering in place." But with those shelter orders slowly being lifted, Nothaft said more inventory will start coming back on the market, and they expect home sales nationally by next April to dip by 1.3-percent.
