More good news (and some not-so-good news) for Bradenton-area homeowners

Home prices in the Bradenton market increased 3.5 percent from May 2017 to May 2018, according to industry analyst CoreLogic.

Local prices continue to trail the national increase of 7.1 percent, and inventory remained tight locally as well as nationally.

In the last seven days, 194 new listings were added in Manatee County, 231 sales were pending and 286 were sold and closed, said Cindy Greco, an agent and trainer with Wagner Realty.

"The market continues to deplete the inventory," she said. "It's been tight all year."

The latest CoreLogic report also showed that the home price index increased from April to May 2018 nationally (1.1 percent) and locally (0.3 percent).

CoreLogic includes Bradenton in a core-based statistical area with Sarasota and North Port.

“The lean supply of homes for sale is leading to higher sales prices and fewer days on market, and the supply shortage is more acute for entry-level homes,” Frank Nothaft, the chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a press release.

“During the first quarter, we found that about 50 percent of all existing homeowners had a mortgage rate of 3.75 percent or less. May’s mortgage rates averaged a seven-year high of 4.6 percent, with an increasing number of homeowners keeping the low-rate loans they currently have, rather than sell and buy another home that would carry a higher interest rate.”

Looking ahead, CoreLogic forecasts that the national home-price index will increase by 5.1 percent on a year-over-year basis from May 2018 to May 2019.

On a month-over-month basis, home prices are expected to rise 0.3 percent in June 2018.

In 2018, CoreLogic and RTi Research of Norwalk, Conn., conducted a consumer housing sentiment study, combining consumer and property insights. The study assessed attitudes toward home ownership and the drivers of the home buying or renting decision process.

Across the U.S., 15 percent of homeowners and 28 percent of renters have indicated a desire to buy a home in the next 12 months, while only 11 percent have indicated a desire to sell.

The research reported the long-term desire for home ownership is much stronger among renters in markets that have the highest home-price growth. Lagging supply in those markets is likely to continue as fewer homeowners are considering putting their homes on the market.

Over the next 12 months, 41 percent of renters are considering buying while only 11 percent of homeowners are considering selling over that same period. That is nearly four times as many renters than homeowners, which is the crux of the available housing-supply imbalance.

Greg Owens, president of the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee, has previously said that the slower pace of local home price growth is not necessarily a bad thing.

"To me, going up slow and steady rather than in greater leaps is a good thing. It allows more people to get into the marketplace," Owens said in May.