Tag Archives: Home Sales

The housing market is seeing prices appreciate at a normal pace, with further growth expected in the next five years, according to Fiserv Inc. From Q3 2011 to Q3 2012, home prices rose by 3.6 percent, the Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes revealed. Furthermore, Fiserv predicts a 0.6 percent increase in home prices from Q3 2012 to Q3 2013. The gains are expected to continue into the next 5 years, with prices projected to grow at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent from Q3 2012 to the Q3 2017. When excluding gains from the 2009 and 2010 home buyer tax credits, Fiserv noted 2012 was the first positive year for home prices and home sales volumes.

Redfin's latest survey shows a shortage of inventory and rising prices--both of which naturally benefit sellers--are creating frustration for buyers trying to get in on the ground floor of the housing recovery. According to Redfin's findings, 79 percent of buyers who responded to the survey now believe home prices will increase in their neighborhood over the next year, up from 71 percent in Q4 2012. The share of buyers who believe prices will rise ""a lot"" more than doubled, increasing to 22 percent from 10 percent previously.

The sad fact of the budget sequestration being played out in Washington is how avoidable it was. The sadder fact is that however temporary it might prove to be--and that appears from a distance to be more of a wish than a forecast--it will affect real people, and not well. The effects of sequestration go beyond the impact of jobs loss because defense or other contractors are not hired or because federal workers are furloughed. The effects will put even more homeowners at risk of delinquency, or worse, foreclosure, just at a time when the housing sector is recovering.

Historically, higher-priced homes are a leading indicator of the real estate market and tend to lead the market during times of recovery, according to the Home Value Forecast (HVF) report jointly released by Pro Teck Valuation Services and Collateral Analytics. The companies assessed price changes in the Bay Area and around Los Angeles and found the high-end markets showed stronger price growth compared to lower-priced areas. The HVF report also included a list of the 10 best and worst performing metros for February based on factors such as sales/listing activity and prices, months of remaining inventory (MRI), days on market (DOM), sold-to-list price ratio, and foreclosure and REO activity.

Single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose more than 10 percent year-over-year in January, according to new data from The Warren Group. Single-family sales reached 2,680--the highest January sales level since 2007, when there were 2,953 transactions. January 2012 single-family home sales were 2,436.

The price gap between non-distressed properties and damaged REOs is widening, according to results from the January Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking survey. According to the survey, while non-distressed property prices have risen to their highest level in three years, damaged REOs, or bank-owned properties in need of repair, fell in January. The survey also found that while the investor share of purchases for damaged REOs has increased, interest for properties in that category has waned among current and first-time homebuyers.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 4.5 percent to 105.9 in January, its highest level in almost three years, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The monthly increase was the strongest since May, when the index rose 4.9 percent. Despite the strong report, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun remained cautious. ""Over the near term, rising contract activity means higher home sales, but total sales for the year are expected to rise less than in 2012, while home prices are projected to rise more strongly because of inventory shortages,"" Yun said.

New home sales jumped 15.6 percent in January--the strongest gain in 20 years--to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000, the highest since July 2008, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the report to show a much smaller sales pace: 381,000. January's rate of sales was the highest since July 2008. At the same time, the months' supply of new homes for sale dropped to its lowest level since March 2005.

DS News took some time to chat with Daren Blomquist, VP of RealtyTrac, to get a reading on the current state of the foreclosure market and what is expected to come. Although foreclosures served to strip homes of their value during the housing crisis, Blomquist says foreclosures will be seen as a welcome sign this year and act as a stimulus. While this may seem counterintuitive, Blomquist said, ""because of the severe lack of inventory available for sale, foreclosures could actually fill that inventory and provide more fuel to the fire that's been slowly building over the past year as more sales occur.""

President Obama unleashed a predictable firestorm when he proposed during the State of the Union address that the minimum wage be increased to $9.00 an hour from the current $7.25. The reactions were expected: conservative economists criticizing the suggestion while progressives either endorsed it outright or noted the proposal was less than the $9.50 minimum wage proposed by then-candidate Obama.