Housing Market Outlook and Forecast

By , on July 29th, 2010

Dennis Norman

This week I attended an event at the St. Louis Association of REALTORS® in which Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of REALTORS® was the featured speaker and gave his take on the housing market as well as his housing market outlook. Continue reading “Housing Market Outlook and Forecast“

June pending home sales increase
Midwest up 11.6% from a year ago

By , on August 4th, 2009
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Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR

By: Dennis Norman

Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for June showing pending sales in the U.S. were up for the fifth consecutive month, the first time in six-years for such a streak.

Here in the Midwest pending home sales were only up 0.8% from May, but were up a whopping 11.6% from this time a year ago, the largest year over year increase of the four regions in the U.S.

The pending home sales index for the Midwest rose 0.8% to 89.9 from a level of 89.2 in May, and was down only 0.05% from Aprils 90.4. April, 2009, had the highest index in the past 12 months, and June 2009 is now the 2nd highest showing clearly that there are signs of life in the market and that we have possibly seen the bottom.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said a combination of positive market factors is fueling the gains. “Historically low mortgage interest rates, affordable home prices and large selection are encouraging buyers who’ve been on the sidelines. Activity has been consistently much stronger for lower price homes,” he said.

To see an interview with Lawrence Yun by REALTOR(R) Magazine click here.

Home sales and prices increase in Midwest in June

By , on July 23rd, 2009
Dennis Norman

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS(R) released its existing home sales report for June showing an increase in sales for the 3rd month in a row as well as higher prices in June.

Existing home sales, including single-family, town-homes, condominiums and co-ops increased 3.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units. This rate is almost identical to last years sales at the same time which is a first in a quite a while. May’s rate was down 3.6% from a year ago and June is down just 0.2% from a year ago.

Here in the Midwest sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.1 million homes.  This is a modest 0.9% increase over May and is 1.8% below the same time last year. 

Median home prices in the U.S. rose 4% from $174,700 for May to $181,800 for June which is down 15.4% from a year before.  For the Midwest the median home price for June increased almost $10,000 from May to $157,000 which represents a drop of slightly over 9% in the past year.  Continue reading “Home sales and prices increase in Midwest in June“