The latest FNC Residential Price Index (RPI) shows New York City housing prices dipping a minor 0.9 percent this past November from October, but over an 11-month period — January through November 2015 — NYC housing prices rose nearly five percent.
FNC’s RPI reported the gain at 4.8 percent in its recent market report. The gain in NYC housing prices from November 2014 to 2015 was listed as two percent by FNC mortgage market researchers.
The RPI showed U.S. home prices were sluggish in November as the market entered a slower winter season. Home prices registered a 0.0 percent change nationally between October and November of 2015.
FNC analysts warned against reading too much into the November data, as they discovered that home prices were up six percent nationwide from a year ago. Gains in some markets were offset by declines in others, they wrote.
The FNC RPI’s findings are similar to findings by New York-based consulting firms, which are registering growth in Manhattan’s residential market, especially in the luxury sector. Gains were similar in parts of Brooklyn and Queens, according to analysis firms JLL and Douglas Elliman, which released their findings last week.
“Despite recent months’ more upbeat data on new home sales and residential construction, prices have been relatively stable since August, with month-to-month momentum showing no significant gains, neither decelerating nor accelerating rapidly,” said Yanling Mayer, FNC’s housing economist and director of research.
“Housing has long been held by low interest rates, but the latest job reports are rather encouraging. If the job market continues to pick up going forward, we may finally begin to see more fundamental demand factors, such as job creation and income growth, step in and drive the housing market in a more sustainable way,” added Mayer.
