Tag Archives: Demand

Buying a house in 2018 has become steadily more intricate with consistent declines in availability and continued price increases, according to an analysis by Realtor.com that identified a shift in buyer activity. The report analyzed thousands of views to Realtor.com’s ...

"In this month's MiMi three more states and seven metro areas moved within range of their benchmark level of activity," Keifer said. "However, as we've mentioned before, we're likely to see bouts of affordability shock with mortgage rate swings for the remainder of this year as market participants try to anticipate Fed timing around rising short term interest rates and expectations for global growth wax and wane."

While lower prices are bound to keep Americans happy at the gas pump, they could potentially be a problem for housing in oil-dependent states, including Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. If the current decline impacts the local labor market (as the Dallas Fed indicated Wednesday in its own Beige Book), it could be a weight on their housing health in the next few years.

Mortgage credit standards remained largely unchanged over the past three months as demand weakened overall, according to a report from the Federal Reserve.

The number of listings last month was approximately 1.87 million, down 2.7 percent annually and 7.9 percent monthly. The decline compares to Redfin's latest analysis, which showed an unexpected bump in inventory from new listings. Redfin's data measures a narrower list of markets nationwide.

PAR's latest quarterly housing report shows closed sales statewide totaled 41,371 in Q3, up 5.1 percent from the previous quarter. Year-over-year, third-quarter sales fell short 1.1 percent.

More interesting, Redfin said, was the shift in supply and demand dynamics: Even as new listings plunged 9.3 percent—nearly triple the average July-to-August decline—numbers of customers touring homes and making offers rose, demonstrating buyers aren't backing off.

While nearly seven in 10 Americans agree that now is a good time to become a homeowner, a large number remain reluctant due to their own misconceptions of the financing process, according to survey results. For example, Wells Fargo reported, 30 percent of respondents expressed belief that only people with high incomes can obtain a mortgage at this point, and 64 percent said they believe only those with a "very good"” credit score can buy a home right now.

Growth was described as "modest" in the New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, and San Francisco districts, while Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Kansas City reported “modest” growth. Looking ahead, contacts in about half of the districts "generally remained optimistic about future growth," while most of the other districts saw ongoing optimism in specific sectors.

For July, Redfin recorded a 0.3 percent monthly decline in the median sales price of homes sold in the major metros the company tracks, marking the first time in five months that price growth was essentially flat.