Industry data says home sales are at their highest level since 2006, and housing prices across major metro areas have increased 30 percent since bottoming out three years ago. Government numbers show that new residential construction jumped by 20 percent this spring, and in some areas the market has been so strong that analysts are worried about another bubble, reports The Washington Post’s Ylan Q. Mui.
Alongside those gains is a pickup in job growth that started in 2014 and has yet to lose steam.
New government data released Friday showed that the economy added 280,000 jobs in May, the biggest number this year. U.S. employers have not been on such a long hiring spree since the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5 percent, largely because more people decided to seek work.
Those who own a home are less likely to fall behind on their mortgage. More people are able to start saving for a down payment. And workers are gaining confidence to strike out on their own, rather than bunk with family or friends, spurring demand for housing.
That may be most evident in the West, which led the country in job creation in April, according to the most recent regional breakdown available from payroll processor ADP, which compiles a closely watched private forecast.
Phoenix real estate in May: Sales up 11.4%, inventory down 15% year-over-year
