Market Studies

Inventory and price continued to rise for the month of April suggesting a healthier national housing market, according to the National Housing Trend Report released by Realtor.com. The group cited trends from the previous year which found "dramatic shortages" being replaced in 2014 by moderate home price gains in tandem with increasing inventories.

"Consumer confidence improved slightly in May, as consumers assessed current conditions, in particular the labor market, more favorably," said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board. "Expectations regarding the short-term outlook for the economy, jobs, and personal finances were also more upbeat."

Despite claims that the recent rise in housing prices is solving the nation’s foreclosure and economic crises, millions of families continue to face financial problems from which they may never recover, according to research from the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California, Berkeley.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, released Tuesday, recorded a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent monthly rise in prices across 20 of the country's top markets. Removing adjustments, the index climbed 0.9 percent month-over-month. Compared to a year ago, March prices were up 12.4 percent, a step back from the 12.9 percent annual increase recorded in February.

Black Knight's Data and Analytics division released its latest Home Price Index (HPI), based on March 2014 residential real estate transactions. The group found that home prices rose 1.0 percent for the month, reflecting a yearly increase of 7.0 percent.

An index measuring leading economic indicators in the United States posted its third straight increase in April, suggesting economic growth might be ready to take off in the coming months following a weak first quarter.

According to estimates released Friday by the Commerce Department, sales of new single-family homes last month were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000, a 6.4 percent improvement over March’s upwardly revised rate of 407,000. March sales were originally reported at 384,000.

Homes are selling faster and at higher prices in the metropolitan Chicago real estate market in April, according to a recent analysis of market activity by RE/MAX. However, sales of distressed homes, either through foreclosure or short sales, fell off steeply for the month as the housing market continued to work through the foreclosure process.

In a recent ranking of the best beach town's by RealtyTrac, Hawaii held a slim majority over California and Florida with 11 of the top 20 beach markets in the nation. The company based its selections on four criteria: average temperature, percentage of sunny days, percentage of days with good air quality, and crime rates.

For the first time this year, existing-home sales and total inventory increased in April, while home price growth moderated. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), total existing-home sales, which the group defines as single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, rose 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.65 million in April 2014.