Tag Archives: Home Sales

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.

In a new report from PropertyRadar on California single-family home sales, the company found that sales were up 20 percent in April from March. However, sales fell on a yearly basis for the month, declining 13.3 percent. Despite the gains in April, year-to-date sales volume is the lowest it has been since 2008.

In its latest economic forecast, released Wednesday, Fannie Mae reported that housing remains the weakest link in the national economy. Through the first three months of 2014, existing-home sales, new single-family home sales, single-family housing starts, and multifamily housing starts all declined year-over-year.

According to the Commerce Department and HUD, privately owned housing starts last month were at an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million, representing a 13.2 percent jump from March’s barely revised pace of 947,000. Unfortunately for the supply-constrained single-family market, most of that spike came in apartment buildings, which were started at a rate of 413,000—a leap up from March.

Despite many beginning-of-the-year predictions about spring growth in the housing market falling flat, and despite a still chugging economy that changes its mind quarter-to-quarter, economists at the National Association of Realtors and other industry groups expect an uptick in the economy and housing market through next year.

A booming tech sector and overall job and income growth have helped fuel a real estate boom in San Francisco, according to a recent special commentary from the Wells Fargo Economics Group. The group found that the city's perennially tight housing market has gotten even tighter, pushing rents and home prices up.

According to the latest quarterly report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), year-over-year home price growth continued in most metros, albeit at a slightly lessened pace. The median existing single-family home price increased in 74 percent of measured markets.

The share of all-cash sales reached a new high in the first quarter of 2014, even as the total share of institutional investor purchases dropped to near-record lows. All-cash sales made up 42.7 percent of all U.S. residential property sales for Q1, up from 37.8 percent from the previous quarter, according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Institutional Investor and Cash Sales Report.

With concerns about employment easing, Americans are increasingly optimistic about the housing market, reports Fannie Mae in its April National Housing Survey. And, according to the mortgage buyer, this climbing optimism may foreshadow an upswing in housing activity through the summer months.