The housing market seems to be on the upswing, and some experts say that by 2014, the market will be back on track. Last week NAR noted that investment properties are on the rise, and the National Institute of Home Builders reports that contractors have high expectations for remodeling this year. According to data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, home price indexes for 38 states ended 2011 above their early-year lows and 30 states reported more than two quarters of growth by the end of 2011.
However, Kiplinger.com notes that how each individual state recovers will depend largely on how it deals with foreclosures; in states that require judicial review before signing off on a foreclosure, backlogged properties can slow down the progress in the market. States that do not require judicial review—like Texas and Delaware—are speeding through foreclosure processes in impressive time. In Florida, it can take over 800 days to complete a foreclosure; in Arizona, it can take less than 200. This may be part of the reason Phoenix gained 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter, despite its 55 percent plunge from 2006 levels.
Read more about this topic at Kiplinger.com.
