Half of US states on track to full property recovery

A report released last week reveals that the US property market is continuing steadily along the road to recovery and that more than half of the country’s states are on course to soon either hit or even surpass pre-bubble house price levels.

According to the latest CoreLogic figures, house prices increased by 6.1 per cent in the year to October, the fastest annual pace of growth recorded since July. The analysis firm also revealed that record-high home prices were registered in nine states: Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

According to the report, by the middle of 2015, home prices in 27 states will have hit or pushed past peak levels. “The gradual recovery of the housing market continues to be propelled by improving employment, more buyer and seller confidence, continued low rates and, in certain parts of the country, investor demand,” said Anand Nallathambi, CoreLogic’s chief executive.

However, two of the states that were worst affected by the financial crash of 2008, Florida and Nevada, are still struggling to recover. In both theses states prices were approximately 30 per cent lower than they were at the local peak; nationally prices are 12.4 per cent below the national average house price peak, recorded in 2006.

USA Property Increases

No matter how fast the property prices are climbing – or not – in the area you are looking at buying in, one thing that will help keep them affordable is making sure you conduct a well-timed currency transaction.

When exchanging large lump sums for emigration purposes only small fluctuations in the foreign exchange market can have a significant impact on the amount of money you could be potentially starting your new life with.

For example, if you have recently sold your UK property and decided to exchange, say, £150,000 for US Dollars, then last Thursday you would have received just US$234,600. However, had you got yourself organised and decided to exchange the same amount back in  late September, when the exchange rate was at its highest level in the past three months, then you would have received US$245,700 – over US$10,000 more!

Yet the exchange markets are far from a lottery. Wise emigrants start to plan their exchange well in advance by engaging the services of a specialist foreign exchange firm like Halo Financial. Companies like Halo understand just why the exchange rates are moving and what impact this has on your currency transaction.

What’s more, they can also explain how to make your money go further and give you a range options on exactly when you wish to exchange, and how much you should exchange at a time.

To find out how you can make sure you can get the best exchange rate possible, and take advantage of positive fluctuations in the markets, visit www.halofinancial.com

Article published 8th December 2014