Dive Brief:
- In Fortune, real estate writer Chris Matthews cites four statistics he says show that the steep recovery in the housing market is about over because these comparisons are near their historical norms.
- One comparison looks at ratio of house prices to rents, which skyrocketed during the housing bubble but is much closer now to its typical level, as is the home ownership rate in the U.S.
- A measure that compares the value of housing to the nation's GDP is settling in around its longtime value of 1.4 and cash purchases are falling off, suggesting that speculators do not see the value of houses continuing to zoom up.
Dive Insight:
These numbers say we are about back to where we should expect to be, but there has not been much happiness with annual home building running below the million-a-year level. The cash purchase change is striking -- Matthews cites a Zillow survey that says cash purchases have fallen year-over-year in 102 of the 126 biggest metro areas.