The latest CoreLogic House Price Index shows that home prices in the United States are up both year over year and month over month.
Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 6.3 per cent in December 2015 compared with December 2014 and increased month over month by 0.8 per cent in December 2015 compared with November 2015.
What’s more, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 5.4 per cent on a year-over-year basis from December 2015 to December 2016, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase 0.2 per cent from December 2015 to January 2016
“Nationally, home prices have been rising at a 5 to 6 percent annual rate for more than a year,” explains Dr Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “However, local-market growth can vary substantially from that. Some metropolitan areas have had double-digit appreciation, such as Denver and Naples, Florida, while others have had price declines, like New Orleans and Rochester, New York.”
“Higher property valuations appear to be driving up single-family construction as we head into the spring. Additional housing stock, especially in urban centers on the coasts such as San Francisco, could help to temper home price growth in the longer term,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “In the short and medium term, local markets with strong employment growth are likely to experience a continued rise in home sales and price growth well above the US average.”
If you’re planning on moving to the United States in the coming months and, more importantly, looking to buy a home there, then given the rising prices in most areas of the country it is arguably more important than ever to make your money go as far as possible. And this is where making sure you get the best possible exchange rate when changing your Pounds to Dollars is crucial.
While some would-be immigrants view the exchange market as little more than a lottery, and are happy to exchange their money when they have it, regardless of the rate they receive, wiser emigrants plan the exchange well in advance by engaging the services of a specialist foreign exchange firm like Halo Financial.
When exchanging large lump sums for emigration purposes, only a small change in the market can have a significant impact on the amount of money you could be potentially starting your new life with.
In the last month alone, the rate has both risen and fallen. On 21st January £1 was worth US$1.413, so if you had, say £150,000 to exchange – maybe from the sale of a UK property – then had you exchanged on this date you would have received US$211,950. However, had you chosen to exchange a few weeks later, then on 5thFebruary £1 was worth US$1.463, working out at US$219,450 on an exchange of £150,000 – a potential gain of US$7,500, in just a matter of days.
Halo Financial understands why the exchange rates are moving and just 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 http://www.halofinancial.com/