Us property prices rise for third month running

Property sales have risen for the third month in a row in the US, reaching 5.3% above the level of 5.09 million last seen in January 2010. This marks the first time in seven months that these totals have shown a rise over the year for USA property.

A 2.7% rise was seen in existing home sales, leading to an adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in January - up from December figures of 5.22 million. These figures take into account investments in town homes, condos, co-ops and single-family households.

In conjunction with improved stats for the workplace and the general economy, consumers are more upbeat according to top economists. Lawrence Yun of NAR said: "The extremely favourable housing affordability conditions are a big factor, but buyers have been constrained by unnecessarily tight credit. As a result, there are abnormally high levels of all-cash purchases, along with rising investor activity."

An NAR survey revealed that first-time buyers were behind 29% of January sales, down from 33% in the previous month and 40% in the previous January ,when tax credit schemes were in operation.

Source: Press Association