Market Studies

Sales of single-family homes in the Bay State continued their steady rise in July, The Warren Group reported Tuesday. A total of 4,979 single-family homes sold statewide in July, up from almost 27 percent year-over-year. This July was the best for sales volume since 2005, when sales reached 6,672.

In another positive sign for the housing sector, the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 2.4 percent in July to 101.7, its highest level since April 2010, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. Economists had expected a 1.0 percent increase to 100.3.

A report released Monday from John Burns Real Estate Consulting revealed that the real homeownership rate-measured as the percentage of households that own a home and are not seriously delinquent on their mortgage-has fallen to 62.1 percent, the lowest level in almost half a century. The firm said that the Census Bureau's 65.5 percent homeownership estimate was a vast overestimate, as it includes 3.8 million homeowners who are 90 or more days delinquent.

The U.S. economy grew in the second quarter at 1.7 percent, slightly faster than the originally estimated 1.5 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday. At the same time, BEA reported the second quarter grew at a meager 0.5 percent from the first quarter, but an improvement from the 2.7 percent drop in corporate profits registered in the first quarter. Profits in the financial sector though fell more than 9 percent.

CoreLogic found nearly 210,000 residential properties are at risk for storm-surge flooding from Hurricane Isaac.

According to Radar Logic's RPX Monthly Housing Market Report for June, sales of homes at foreclosure auctions and REO sales by financial institutions fell to their lowest share of sales since 2008. The fall in distressed sales led to an overall year-over-year gain in the RPX Composite price, which measures statistics in 25 metropolitan areas. However, Radar Logic warned that price gains made in the first half of the year may not last.

The number of completed foreclosures saw declines both monthly and yearly, according to CoreLogic's most recent foreclosure report. In July, 58,000 homes were lost to the foreclosure process compared to 69,000 in July 2011 and 62,000 the month before in June. Five states accounted for nearly half (48.1 percent) of all completed foreclosures over a one year period ending in July 2012. Those states were California (118,000), Florida (92,000), Michigan (61,000), Texas (57,000), and Georgia (54,000).

Investor participation dropped drastically in July, reversing a trend of long-term growth in investor purchases of residential properties. According to the report, investor activity in the housing market fell to 21.9 percent of all transactions in July, down from 23.5 percent in June. July's decrease also established a two-month trend of declines from May's two-year peak of 25.3 percent.

Home prices rose 6.9 percent in the second quarter, according to the Case-Shiller Index compiled by Standard

Slow job creation and tight loan availability are hindering otherwise positive growth in commercial real estate, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. While ""positive underlying fundamentals"" helped boost all of the major commercial real estate sectors, growth in some areas has been tempered by various issues, including job growth and shifts in demand.