Tag Archives: Home Prices

The recent fast-paced home price appreciation across the country led some markets to the brink of a bubble, but deceleration over the summer months has Zillow analysts breathing a sigh of relief as the bubble threat deflates. Home value appreciation has declined steadily for three months, according to Zillow, and half of the nation's 20 largest metros experienced negative appreciation in September.

Existing-home sales slipped in September after reportedly reaching their highest level in nearly four years in August, according to the National Association of Realtors. Analysts attribute the drop to declining affordability resulting from limited inventory and rising home prices. Total existing-home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.29 million last month. August's sales were revised downward to 5.39 million.

Even with concerns elevated over the government shutdown, sentiment among contacts of the Federal Reserve Districts remained ""cautiously optimistic"" about the nation's economic future, according to the Fed's Beige Book released this week. Reports on regional housing activity were generally positive, with most markets growing or at least not faltering. The Philadelphia District was the one exception.

Robert Shiller--the man who lends his name to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices--has been awarded the 2013 Nobel prize in economics. Shiller, a Sterling professor of economics at Yale University, was selected for the $1.23 million prize--along with Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen, both at the University of Chicago--for his work related to the study of human psychology and behavior as it relates to economic modeling.

August marks the 18th consecutive month of rising home prices, according to FNC's Residential Price Index released Tuesday, indicating an indisputable recovery. However, FNC, a mortgage industry technology provider, is detecting some deceleration in the recovery and declares, ""It is clear that the recovery remains uneven across the nation.""

The number of homeowners eligible for refinancing has shrunk from about 10 million in December 2012 to about 5.7 million as of August, according to Lender Processing Services' (LPS) latest Mortgage Monitor report. LPS cites heightened refinance activity over the past few years and rising interest rates as reasons for the decline and sees a market ripe for home equity lines of credit as a result of rising prices.

Continuing the trend observed in August, Americans' enthusiasm for the housing market abated last month as the government's fiscal policy debate came back into the spotlight. Fannie Mae says it's found that although consumers are ""generally positive"" about housing and the economy, attitudes over the last few months suggest optimism has hit a plateau, even softened.

Builders lowered prices and buyers responded in August, pushing new home sales up 7.9 percent to 421,000, reversing almost half of July’s 64,000 drop in sales, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to rise to 425,000 from July’s originally reported 394,000.

Home prices rose in July by less than two percent for the first time since March but still reached their highest level since August 2008, according to the Case Shiller Home Price Indexes released Tuesday. The 20-city index was up 1.8 percent in July 12.4 percent in the last year — while the companion 10-city index was up 1.9 percent.

With home prices continuing to rise at accelerated rates, John Burns Real Estate Consulting is warning clients in certain areas--particularly in California and Florida--to be mindful of the artificial price boosts home flippers can bring to the market. In a recent report, one of the firm's analysts said the popularity of home flipping in the media is fueling exaggerated expectations of returns from amateur investors.