In a recent Inman News article they mentioned that the median single family home price rose to its highest level in over seven years in the first quarter of 2013.  Market conditions for home sellers has continued to improve and home sales has increased- both factors has helped contribute to this gain.  Median home prices jumped 11.3% from $158,600 to $176,600 according to the NAR (National Association of Realtors).  This is the largest leap since late 2005, when the median price jumped 13.6%.

If you’re like me, you’re extremely excited about this news!  For a long time now the housing market has not been the best and now it’s finally starting to turn around, resulting in a lot more confidence in the market and hopefully a lot of money to be made for realtors, homeowners, and home-buyers as well.

“The supply/demand balance is clearly tilted toward sellers in a good portion of the country,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Inventory conditions are expected to remain fairly constrained this year, so overall price increases should be well above the historic gain of one-to-two percentage points above the rate of inflation.  If home builders can continue to ramp up production, then home price growth is expected to moderate in 2014.”

Along with this rise in home price, sales of homes themselves rose .8% from the previous quarter and 9.8 percent from one year before.  This, again, is the highest level of sales since 2009 when home sales were being artificially stimulated by tax incentives.  Hopefully we will see this trajectory continue because the prices of homes has not been extremely stable over the most recent years.  If you’re thinking of buying a home, definitely consider that the prices are on the rise and it might be harder to get the deal you’re looking for.  But, with that in mind, if you’re optimistic that the prices of homes are going to continue to rise it might not be a bad idea to get in now while they’re still affordable.