Tag Archives: Home Values

With the days of the recession well in the rear view mirror, housing markets have experienced dramatic growth in home values, and some market values have surpassed previous all-time highs set during the housing bubble.

The best U.S. cities for watching home price inflation appear to be concentrated along the West Coast. In what markets are prices at an all-time high?

The indicators used in the rankings include sales/listing activity and prices, months of remaining inventory, days on market, sold-to-list price ratio, and foreclosure percentage and REO activity.

State policies offering redemption periods don’t understand time is the cause for foreclosure. That same time offered to redeem is the reason s house falls into ghoulish disrepair and distress and becomes a shell of the home it used to be. So, is the house the home it used to be?

As home values rise and borrowers continue to gain equity, CoreLogic's analysis indicates that nearly 5.1 million properties are still upside-down on their mortgage. That figure represents about 10.3 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage compared to about 13.3 percent the year prior.

The number of U.S. homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth has fallen off by nearly half in the last two years, but third-quarter data shows millions are still close to slipping back under. By the end of Q3 2015, the company expects negative equity will drop further to a rate of 15.2 percent. While improving trends in home values and foreclosures have helped push more homeowners into positive equity positions, many are still barely afloat, possessing too little equity to realistically afford the cost of selling their home and buying a new one. Because they're essentially locked into their houses, those homeowners are unable to contribute to their local stock of for-sale homes and are stuck in the way of entry-level or move-up buyers.

While millennials so far have yet to find their place in the housing market, the stage is set for younger Americans to become the driving force in the residential sector in 2015, according to a forecast from Zillow.

Two of the three component sub-indices improved through the summer: the measure of current market trends and conditions rose more than half a point to 62.7, while the measure of homebuying plans and attitudes toward homeownership climbed more than two points to 62.4.

With ongoing home price gains continuing to trend downward, one in five markets are poised for depreciation over the next year, according to one analytics firm.

Economists are lowering their expectations for housing starts in 2014, according to a survey performed by the Wall Street Journal. The Journal notes their diminishing optimism is among the most noticeable trend in monthly surveys of economic forecasters in the first half of 2014.