ATTN:  BUYERS

Should you WAIT to purchase.....If you do, you could be paying MORE than you would now !

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Home-data firm First American CoreLogic (Santa Ana HQ pictured left) predicts that Orange County house prices will be up 9.5% next August from this past summer.

If accurate, the median price of an Orange County house would increase by nearly $48,000 from the $500,000 median reported by DataQuick in August and September.

Those price gains would outstrip appreciation rates for the nation’s 10 largest metro areas, First American reported. For example, Los Angeles County is forecast to see home prices rise 6.3%, the highest rate among the Big 10 (See chart below right after clicking “Read the rest of this entry.”) That’s followed by Miami-Dade County’s projected 6.1% gain.

First American projected that California’s house prices will increase 7.9% by August, while nationwide prices will go up 4.6%. First American expects U.S. home prices to hit bottom in March.

First American’s forecast is just the latest in the past five weeks. Among the others:

First American’s Home Price Index showed that Orange County house prices fell 7.9% in August, its most recent data. Prices for non-distressed homes only — which excludes bank-owned houses and short sales (where prices are below debt) — had dropped by a slightly smaller margin: 7.1%.

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