Housing outlook
Fitch Ratings sees U.S. home prices climbing about 5 percent this year. That should nudge home prices closer to levels last seen during the peak of the housing boom 10 years ago. Even so, the credit ratings agency says home values now appear more sustainable than they were in 2006. Since then, the nation’s population has added more than 20 million people and incomes have increased. When adjusted for inflation, current home prices remain more than 20 percent below their 2006 peak, the firm notes. Still, in states such as California, where prices have risen sharply in recent years, home values could ease somewhat this year.