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Home price growth bucked recent trends in December as sales numbers continued on a slower course, analytics provider DataQuick reported Monday.
The firm's Property Intelligence Report (PIR) for December show month-to-month home price growth was positive in 36 out of 42 reporting counties, a downturn from months of growth across all markets.
While the slowdown in growth was a change from the last few months, it's not necessarily a bad sign, says DataQuick's VP of analytics, Gordon Crawford. In the latest report, Crawford maintains that the previous pace of growth "was not sustainable given the fairly weak underlying economic drivers."
"This month, home price growth decreased substantially, which is encouraging as it shows that home prices are starting to respond to fundamentals rather than proceed along a speculative bubble-like track," Crawford said. "However, even with this slowing pace, home prices remain above the rate that can be sustained by currently weak economic drivers."
Meanwhile, sales continued to slow on a monthly basis, increasing in only 11 of the 42 reported counties. Yearly figures weren't much better, with sales improving in 17 counties.
