Fannie Mae’s April 2012 National Housing Survey indicates consumer attitudes toward homeownership, the economy, personal finances, and home prices continuing to improve. Continue Reading →
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Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in April were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.62 million units which is a increase of 3.4 percent from the month before and an increase of 10.0 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in April was 400,000 which is an increase of 11.1 percent from the month before and an increase of 6.7 percent from a year ago when there were 375,000 homes sold. Continue Reading → motivation for the move is warmer weather, not a job. Wow, I can relate to that….. In fact, according to the report, most long distance house hunters are looking in markets with higher unemployment and slower job growth than where they currently live. Fro example, as you can see in the chart below, 3 times as many people in Minneaplolis – St Paul (with 6.2 percent unemployment) are looking for homes in Phoenix (where unemployment is 8.5) than vice versa. Continue Reading → The St. Louis real estate market has increased activity and is showing signs of St Louis home prices stabilizing. Get this and much more up to date information on St Louis Real Estate from an experienced St Louis Realtor in this informative video update. Continue Reading → According to a new report, The Shifting Nature of U.S. Housing Demand, by The Demand Institute, average home prices will increase by up to 1 percent in the second half of 2012. By 2014, home prices will increase by as much as 2.5 percent. From 2015 to 2017, the study projects annual increases between 3 and 4 percent. This recovery will not be uniform across the country, and the strongest markets could capture average gains of 5 percent or more in the coming years. Continue Reading → Before you go getting too excited over my headline, I should point out that, even though Fed Reserve Board Governor Duke’s presentation today at the National Association of REALTORS mid-year meeting in Washington D.C. was titled “Prescriptions for Housing Recovery”, Governor Duke opened her remarks with “I wish I had such a prescription”. She went on to say that it is difficult to think of a single thing that, by itself will generate a sustainable recovery in housing. She did say, however, that she saw some policies that will help reduce the shadow inventory of houses in the foreclosure pipeline as well as improve the availability of financing to potential home buyers. Continue Reading → Finally, after several years of writing depressing things about the real estate market and housing industry, I’m getting to write some positive things lately! Well, to keep the party going, today I have a list of 10 towns in the U.S. that are leading the U.S. in terms of a housing market recovery according to the “Top Turnaround Town Report” from REALTOR.com. Seven of the top ten markets are in Florida, but the number 1 turnaround town in the U.S. according to the report is Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona where the inventory of homes for sale has fallen almost 50 percent in the past year while prices increased almost 27 percent during the same period. Continue Reading → A report released this morning by CoreLogic, one of the nations leading providers of property information shows that home prices in the U.S. fell in March 0.6 percent from the year before and increased by 0.6 percent from the month before. Excluding distressed sales, month-over-month home prices increased for the third month in a row. If we take distressed sales out of the picture then the year-over-year home prices increased 0.9 percent. According to the report, St. Louis home prices declined by 3.4 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices increased by 1.7 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011. Continue Reading → In a report released by Trulia, which looks at changes in asking prices on homes that are for sale as a leading indicator of where the market is headed, asking prices on homes for sale, on a year over year basis, were up 0.2 percent nationally. Here in St. Louis, as the chart below shows, we can see that year–over-year asking prices in the St. Louis MSA are up almost 1 percent, or almost 5 times the national average but still far from the ten MSA’s in the U.S. with the highest price increases (see table below). Continue Reading → As the chart below shows, St Louis Home Prices appear to have hit bottom back around April 2011 then were headed back down in the last half of the year but have been on the rise since (chart includes data through today) so, unless things change course, I would say St Louis home prices have bottomed out. Don’t worry, if you’re one of the many, many people out there that have been waiting for the “bottom” to buy, you haven’t missed out yet…prices are still low. Our newsletter has charts like below for each county in the St Louis area so you can see how your county is doing. Sign up for it here. Continue Reading → Clear Capital just released it’s Home Data Index™ (HDI) for April, which reveals that REO’s, which have been a drag on the market for several years now by bringing home prices down, are actually help bolster prices as a result of investor demand for REO’s for rentals. REO home price gains (on a price per foot basis) are “vastly outpacing fair market prices on a national level” according to the report. Continue Reading → The latest housing market report by RadarLogic showed home prices in the 25 major metropolitan areas it tracks increased 1.9 percent in February from the month before (in contrast to the Case Shiller home price index which showed home prices fell a little under 1 percent from the month before) however was 3.18 percent lower than a year ago. Continue Reading → The National Association of REALTORS released it’s Pending Home Sales Index for March today showing an increase of 4.1 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and an 12.8 percent increase from a year ago and is now at the highest level it’s been since April 2010 Continue Reading → Home prices fall to lowest levels in almost 10 years; 20-city case shiller lowest since October 2002This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for February was released which showed both the 10-city and 20-city composites, after both hitting record low levels in the two prior months, fell further in February. The 10-city and 20-city composites saw annual price decline of 3.6 percent and 3.5 percent respectively and both saw price declines of 0.8 percent in February from January. Continue Reading → Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data forMarch 2012 showing a decrease of 7.1 percent from the month before, and an increase of 7.5 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for March was 328,000 homes, down from a revised rate of 353,000 homes the month before. It’s worth noting that February’s sales were originally reported by the Commerce Department to be 313,000, so the revision to 353,000 was significant. So, in the end, March may not look so bad either if the revised numbers follow suit with the month before. Continue Reading → Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows U.S. existing home sales in March decreased 2.6 percent from the month before but the Midwest region saw sales activity remain steady coming in at the same rate as the month before. Here in St Louis the story is even better as home sales for the St Louis five-county core (City of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) increased 22.5 percent from the month before and increased 12.4 percent from a year ago. (not seasonally adjusted – see chart below). Continue Reading → Yesterday, MarketWatch published their list of the 10 best cities in the U.S. for real estate investors and St. Louis made the list! Coming in at #10, St. Louis was included in spite of the fact that home prices are still falling in St. Louis and MarketWatch says the St. Louis rental market is softer than the rest of the country. Citing a median list price of $159,000, the site says St Louis houses can still be bought at bargain prices and are recommending the St Louis market “for long-term investors interested in a conservative market that will promise annual appreciation as the market improves.” Continue Reading → For the second month in a row, home prices have risen higher than a year ago. Median prices in March were an impressive 5.8% higher than March 2011 in the 53 metro areas surveyed for the RE/MAX National Housing Report. February marked the first time in 18 months that home prices rose higher than the previous year, and year-to-year price increases haven’t occurred in two consecutive months since August 2010. Home sales in March were 25.4% higher than February and 1.5% higher than March last year. For the last 9 months, sales have reached a level higher than the same month in the previous year. Following these trends, the spring and summer months should experience increased activity. With falling inventory and many markets witnessing multiple offers with bidding competitions, prices are likely to continue to rise in many areas. Continue Reading → Below is a video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that I prepare monthly. In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the month as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where it is headed. (Check out all our market update videos on our YouTube Channel – click here. Continue Reading → Clear Capital just released it’s Home Data Index™ (HDI) for March, which includes their forecast that home prices in many cities in the U.S. will increase by year end 1.2 percent while St Louis home prices are projected to decline another 0.2 percent by the end of 2012. The report predicts home price increase of about 1.3 percent by year end in the Northeast, and home price increases of 1.6 percent in the South by year end. At the lower end of the spectrum, the West is projected to see price increases of about 1 percent by year end and the Midwest is expected to see less than 1 percent price increase by December (0.7 percent). Continue Reading → Attitudes About Homeownership as an Investment, Financial Constraints, and Mortgage Accessibility May Stand in the Way of Americans’ Purchase Decisions Fannie Mae’s latest quarterly National Housing Survey focuses on the state of homeownership aspirations among Americans across all demographic groups. The survey finds that despite the recent housing crisis, most Americans continue to believe that owning their home is preferable to renting it. The data also indicate that while financial constraints and employment concerns may may be keeping potential homebuyers on the sidelines in the near term, future improvements in employment and personal finances, a pickup in interest rates Continue Reading → According to a report just released by Homeaway, sales of vacation homes in 2011 reached a four-year high, fueled by the lowest median sales price in eight years, cheap mortgage rates, and the desire for a family retreat. The research found 33 percent of vacation home buyers purchased a vacation property last year primarily because of low real estate prices, while another 30 percent cited the desire for a family retreat. According to data from a National Association of REALTORS survey, the median sales prices for vacation properties at $121,300, putting ownership within greater reach of more consumers. Continue Reading → This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for January was released which showed both the 10-city and 20-city composites, after both hitting record low levels in December, fell further in January. The 10-city and 20-city composites saw annual price decline of 3.9 percent and 3.8 percent respectively and both saw price declines of 0.8 percent in January from December. Continue Reading → Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for February 2012 showing a decrease of 1.6 percent from the month before, and an increase of 11.4 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for February was 313,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 318,000 homes the month before. This is the second consecutive month new home sales have declined. Continue Reading → Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in February were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.59 million units which is a decrease of 0.8 percent from the month before and an increase of 8.8 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in February was 286,000 which is an increase of 10.0 percent from the month before and an increase of 13.0 percent from a year ago when there were 253,000 homes sold. Continue Reading → The U.S. mortgage loan delinquency rate was 7.57 percent of all home loans in February, down 5.0 percent from the month before and down 14.0 percent from a year ago, according to the “First-Look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data. The foreclosure presale inventory rate was 4.13 percent in February, a 0.5 percent decrease from the month before and a 0.3 percent decrease from a year ago Continue Reading → st-louis-realtor-dennis-norman-shadow-inventory-corelogicA report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of January 2012 was 1.6 million units, equivalent to a 6-months’ supply, and approximately the same level last reported in October 2011. The shadow inventory is down from a year ago though, when it was at 1.8 million units, or an 8-months’ supply. Currently, the flow of new seriously delinquent (90 days or more) loans into the shadow inventory has been offset by the roughly equal flow of distressed sales (short and real estate owned), according to the report. “Almost half of the shadow inventory is not yet in the foreclosure process,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Shadow inventory also remains concentrated in states impacted by sharp price declines and states with long foreclosure timelines.” Continue Reading → The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for February 2012 showing an increase in single-family home building permits from the month before of 4.9 percent and a 9.9 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before. Continue Reading → A report just released by RadarLogic states the obvious by saying “housing is a buyer’s market” which, I think by now, we all know. However the report goes on to dig into the driving forces behind this buyer’s market and makes some interesting (and concerning) observations including the fact that, while the National Association of REALTOR’s reported that the inventory of homes for sale in January dropped to 2.31 million homes (a 6.1 month supply and the lowest level since 2006) this does not take into account vacant homes that have been held off the market, homes that have delinquent mortgages on them and are headed to foreclosure or in the foreclosure process, nor homes with underwater mortgages. This is a large pool of homes that while they are not “on the market” now, a large percentage of them likely will be in the coming months and years thereby increasing the inventory of homes for sale. Continue Reading → St Louis made the list of the “Best 100 U.S. Markets to Invest in Rental Property“, developed by HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor, coming in right in the middle at number 50. Las Vegas was in the number 1 slot and California was the star of the show with 12 metros on the list “There are good opportunities for investors in every one of the top 100 markets,” said HomeVestors’ co-president, David Hicks. “But investors would be wise to take into account other dynamics for the ideal timing to enter the market.” Hicks sites job growth as a key indicator Continue Reading → |
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