Tag Archives: Home Sales

The evidence is clear that the recovery in housing is finally under way, but the question that remains open is whether the positive trends in housing are sustainable, Federal Reserve Board Governor Elizabeth A. Duke said in a speech at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Mid-Winter Housing Finance Conference. In her view, the recovery does appear to be sustainable. ""I do not believe that a flood of houses on the market from households that are currently underwater or from bank REO is likely to materialize or to be sufficient to outpace growing demand,"" she said.

The housing market showed signs of progress across the board, but the overall recovery is still fragile, hence the need for efforts to prevent avoidable foreclosures, according to the Obama Administration Housing Scorecard for February. ""House prices are steadily rising above the mid-crisis lows in markets throughout the country, while inventories of new and existing homes are further tightening, and even estimates of the 'shadow inventory' are down,"" said HUD deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs Kurt Usowski. ""That said, we still remain considerably below long-term normal levels of home sales and production.""

Strong demand and tight inventory have brought existing home sales back to ""normal"" levels, and further gains are possible, according to the latest market report from Capital Economics. Additionally, market conditions may prompt lenders to ""loosen the purse strings slightly"" and lend a little more freely. These conditions, combined with broader economic indicators, lead Capital Economics to revise its previous forecast of a 5 percent price gain this year up to 8 percent. Next year's projection is a smaller 4 percent gain.

Inventory shortage continues to darken the skies over the housing market as the spring selling season approaches, Zillow reported Thursday. Zillow observed a 16.6 percent year-over-year decline in its overall number of listed homes in late February, indicating an inventory crunch just as buyers start to feel more comfortable dipping their toes into the market. Nationwide, the greatest year-over-year inventory declines were among more expensive homes, with the availability of top-tier properties falling 20.5 percent on an annual basis.

In Fannie Mae's most recent housing survey, consumers maintained their optimism toward home prices, while the share of consumers who said now is a good time to sell reached a record high. However, consumers in the survey were less optimistic about the economy and their own financial situation. Nearly half, or 48 percent, of respondents in the February survey said they expect home prices to rise in the next 12 months. At the same time, 25 percent also believe now is a good time to sell, the highest level since the survey's June 2010 inception.

After assessing over 900 markets across the country, RealtyTrac put together a list of the top 15 markets for short sale and REO purchases for the year. Out of the 15 markets selected for short sales, nine were located in California. RealtyTrac also noted the average remaining deficiency after a short sale exceeded $100,000 in seven of the 15 markets, which suggests banks are willing to take a huge loss to avoid foreclosure. The markets on the REO list averaged discounts ranging from 33 to 57 percent and the time to sell ranged from 139 to 175 days compared to 188 to 358 days for short sales.

While more than 90 percent of homes purchased in 2011 were existing homes, more than half of homebuyers declared a preference for new homes, according to the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Characteristics of Home Buyers, an analysis of the 2011 American Housing Survey conducted by the Census Bureau. About 55 percent of survey respondents stated a preference for new homes, according to NAHB. Along with their preference for new homes, survey respondents expressed a desire for energy-efficient homes.

Immigrants have been and will continue to play a large role in the housing market, according to a new report from the Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA), sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The number of new foreign-born homeowners has risen steadily throughout the nation over the past three decades and is expected to continue with some areas of the country owing most of their homeownership growth to the demographic, according to the report. RIHA anticipates new immigrant homeowners will contribute to homeowner growth in the amount of 2.8 million in the current decade ending in 2020.

Asking home prices have risen 7.0 percent year-over-year since bottoming out last February, Trulia revealed in its February Price Monitor Report. At the same time, inventory fell 23 percent year-over-year in February, according to data provided from Department of Numbers. Inventory fell year-over-year in all of the 50-plus markets tracked, dropping more than 50 percent in several California metros.

Unhindered by winter weather, the home price recovery pressed on in January as CoreLogic's home price index (HPI) rose nearly 10 percent year-over-year. When including distressed sales, January prices were up 9.7 percent from a year ago, representing the biggest increase since April 2006, CoreLogic reported Tuesday. From December 2012 to January 2013, prices managed to show positive growth and inched up by 0.7 percent. ""With these gains, the housing market is poised to enter the spring selling season on sound footing,"" said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.