Market Studies

The home price recovery moved in a less focused and more broad-based direction in May as available listings sank, a housing trend report shows. According to Realtor.com, the median listing price of homes in May this year was $214,900, a rise of 8 percent compared to year-ago levels. Month-over-month, prices ticked up 2.4 percent

According to numbers from the Labor Department, employers added 288,000 jobs last month, soaring above economists' consensus forecast of 211,000 new jobs. Meanwhile, payroll additions for April and May were revised up to 304,000 and 224,000, respectively, bringing gains in those months up 29,000 higher than previously reported.

Foreclosure starts rose for the first time in eight months in May but there is still reason to be optimistic about the United States housing market according to the latest Mortgage Monitor Report of the latest available data released by Black Knight Financial Services. The report indicated that foreclosure starts nationwide rose by 9.5 percent.

Risk of fraud in property valuations spiked in the first quarter, according to a report released Wednesday by risk analytics firm Interthinx. Analysts for Interthinx attribute the increase in valuation fraud risk to a rise in buyers purchasing and listing multiple properties in the same neighborhood.

Employment in the private sector rose in June at the highest rate in nearly two years, according to the ADP National Employment Report issued Wednesday for the month of June. By ADP's calculation, private sector employment rose by 281,000 new jobs created, surpassing most already optimistic projections.

Equifax announced more good news for the housing market on Wednesday, signaling that the broader United States economy may be on the rebound despite a disappointing first quarter 2014. In its latest National Consumer Credit Trends Report, the company reports that home finance write-offs year-to-date in May had to $43.5 billion, a decrease of more than 37 percent from the same point in time just one year ago.

One of the country's leading home price measures continued to push up in May, though gains have now slowed to a single-digit annual pace. CoreLogic reported an 8.8 percent year-over-year increase in its May Home Price Index (HPI), marking 27 straight months of annual improvement. As of the latest report, half of all states and the District of Columbia are now at or within 10 percent of their peak home price appreciation.

The National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), which measures contract signings as an indicator of future sales figures, jumped 6.1 percent month-over-month to 103.9. It was the largest one-month increase since April 2010, when the index spiked 9.6 percent as first-time buyers moved to sign purchase contracts to qualify for the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit.

Analyzing data from the United States Census, Trulia's chief economist Jed Kolko found that the population growth of millennials in big, dense cities was outpaced by big-city suburbs and lower-density cities. Kolko also found that baby boomer growth in big, dense cities also fell short of growth in the big-city suburbs.

The latest economic forecast from Fannie Mae shows that the underwhelming performance of the economy in the first three months of the year and a shrinking GDP have significantly dulled the optimism economists once had for the overall 2014 economy.