LOS ANGELES-Analyst Julie Zisfein of Auction.com Research says not to expect a fast residential housing recovery.

Reacting to a report from the National Association of Realtors, which says its data indicates the housing recovery is “gaining traction nationwide,” Zisfein tells GlobeSt.com that younger would-be buyers are not forming households.

Since those formations typically drive demand and have actually decreased, “it's not looking that there is going to be any kind of fast recovery,” Zisfein says. “The headlines say housing is on the mend. But it's important thing to remember that they're coming off extreme lows.”

The National Association of Realtors released first quarter metro area home prices and says of the 150 metro areas covered, 133 of them are reporting housing price increases from a year ago. Overall, the national median existing single-family home price was a seasonally adjusted $186,500 in the first quarter, up 11.3% from the first quarter of 2012, which the NAR claims is the strongest annual price increase since 2005 in the midst of the housing boom.

Zisfein, a senior associate at Auction.com Research, allowed that the recovery seems “on its way, and seems to be picking up speed,” given the NAR statistics. But she notes that national home prices “are now 13.4% off their 2011 trough, but it's important to note they are still 18% off their 2005 peak. While we expect the single-family housing recovery to continue trudging along, the still-dropping homeownership rate and hot multifamily market suggests that the shift from ownership to rental is not quite over.”

Another trend Zisfein sees are younger people gradually making their way out of urban areas. “These people will be priced out of apartments in urban centers and will move to the suburbs,” Zisfein says. “Whether they will rent or buy a house, we definitely think that will happen as apartment prices rise.”

This week on GlobeSt.com, Auction.com president Eric Paulsen says the multifamily sector is still hot, but slows in auctions.