Home prices in the Valley Gain a little ground in July; sales also seem to pick up a little steam according to the Mahoning Valley Housing Report (MVHR).
According to RE/MAX Valley Real Estate’s Mahoning Valley Housing Report (MVHR) for July, single family residential sales (not seasonally adjusted) remain in the doldrums, falling 11.7 percent from 308 units in June to just 272 in July. However, sales this month did mark nearly a ten percent rise over July of 2010. The seasonally adjusted, month over month comparison of closed transactions dropped again for the 41st consecutive month.
Nationwide housing affordability during the fourth quarter of 2010 rose to its highest level in the 20 years since it has been measured, according to National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) data released today.
U.S. house prices fell in the third quarter of 2010 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) seasonally adjusted purchase-only House Price Index (HPI). The HPI calculates home sales price information from Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-acquired mortgages. Although the HPI reports sinking prices from nearly every major metro prices in Mahoning Valley appears to be stabilizing.
Although the employment rate in Ohio was little changed, Ohioans got a psychological the rate fell nominally out of double digits for the first time since March of 2009. Ohio’s unemployment rate was 9.9 percent in October, down slightly from 10.0 percent in September, according to data released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment increased 8,400 over the month, from the revised 5,014,500 in September to 5,022,900 in October.
The presidents of Youngstown State University and Eastern Gateway Community College continue to share a vision of both institutions helping to improve education throughout the Mahoning Valley. Their vision will hopefully keep more college graduates here in the Valley, where the level of higher education in the work force is among the lowest in the state.
National jobless rate ticks up to 9.6%
Bolstered by favorable interest rates and low house prices, housing affordability remained near its highest level nationwide for the sixth consecutive quarter since the series was first compiled nearly two decades ago, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) for Q2-2010.