· Among the ten largest markets still registering inventory declines from a year ago, Denver and Chicago are relatively strong markets whose median list prices are up on a year-over-year basis by 19.6 and 14.3 percent, respectively. The inventory deficits in these markets will likely continue to put significant upward pressure on housing prices going into the 2014 home buying season. However, these and a handful of other Colorado markets are unlikely to experience the kind of appreciation that occurred in California through much of last year, since the deficits are not as large.
· Despite the encouraging signs of a spreading recovery across much of the country, weak markets still persist. List prices in 14 markets dropped by more than 1 percent in February, typically in older, industrialized areas such as Shreveport, Rochester and Omaha. These patterns underscore the multi-pronged nature of the housing recovery and its dependence on the strength of the local economies.
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