Morning Briefing: South, West lead house price gains

South, West lead house price gains… These markets are the best for homebuyers says study… Internet billionaire lists FL home for $137 million…

South, West lead house price gains
US house prices were up 5.1 per cent in the year to June and up 1 per cent from May according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices.

The 10-city composite index was up 4.3 per cent year-over-year, slipping slightly from the previous month; the 20-city composite was up 5.1 per cent, again slightly down from the previous month.

“Home prices continued to rise across the country led by the west and the south,” says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “In the strongest region, the Pacific Northwest, prices are rising at more than 10 per cent; in the slower Northeast, prices are climbing a bit faster than inflation. Nationally, home prices have risen at a consistent 4.8 per cent annual pace over the last two years without showing any signs of slowing.”

Blitzer says that the real estate industry is generally in good shape, despite tight inventory restricting sales in many areas.
 
These markets are the best for homebuyers says study
A new study of 300 US housing markets has revealed that Texas dominates the rankings according to metrics such as house price gains, job growth and affordability.

The Wallethub survey puts Frisco, TX at the top of the league followed closely by McKinney and Richardson, also in Texas. Murfreesboro, TN is 4th with Texas taking the next two spots with Austin and Allen. Plano, TX is also in the top 10 which is completed by Overland Park, KS; and Thornton and Arvada in Colorado.

The bottom markets are in New Jersey; Newark (300) and Paterson (299); followed by Detroit, MI, Elizabeth, NJ and Cleveland, OH.

When ranked by size, Texas takes the top spot for large (Austin) and small (Frisco) cities with Overland Park, Kansas top for midsize cities.
 
Internet billionaire lists FL home for $137 million
Remember the old days of the internet when Netscape was the main contender to Internet Explorer?

It made Jim Clark millions back in the nineties and the entrepreneur, now worth an estimated $1.9 billion from investments including real estate, is set for a surge in his bank balance again with a huge property sale.

Clark has listed his Florida mansion with 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms for $137 million according to the Wall Street Journal. The home, which sits on a 68,000 square feet plot, also has a tunnel from the estate to the beach to avoid residents having to cross the road.