Winter hits housing recover

Terribly cold weather this winter has taken a hit on home prices in January. The five cities that saw a small gain of 0.4% were all warm weather states: Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, and Tampa. Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Boston all saw drops in home prices. All States that saw drops were hit the hardest by the cold weather this year. The Census Department stated that the stride of new homes sales in February dropped 3% from January. These home sales also fell below last years levels. The cold and snow pose as a big setback for homes sales due to the fact that with the snow it is hard for buyers to see the conditions of the house. For example, buyers looking at a house in the middle of winter with snow on the ground can not see the condition of the roof, lawn conditions, and walk ways that are covered by snow. Also, people simply do not want to go outside due to the below freezing temperatures. With the below freezing temperatures people also do not want to move in the winter. The prices have been helped by drops in foreclosures, and a decline in the unemployment rate, but rates are up from year ago when they were are a all time low. 

Winter hits housing recovery - CNN