real estate market

Top 4 Predictions for Real Estate Market in 2009

January 6, 2009

The New Year is not yet one week old but that’s not stopping market “experts” from predicting what’s in store for 2009. The calls on housing and mortgage rates run the gamut: Home prices have farther to fall Home prices have touched bottom Mortgage rates will dip Mortgage rates will rise Put it all together and it’s clear that the experts have no better idea about the future than you or I. Their guesses are educated ones, but they’re guesses nonetheless

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Existing Home Sales Are Relatively Unchanged Going On 14 Months Now

November 25, 2008

In real estate, the term existing home refers to a “used” property; one that can’t be classified as new construction. The number of existing homes sold each month is tracked by the National Association of REALTORS. The report is often used as a gauge for the health of the real estate market nationwide. In October, […]

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Foreclosures Fell 12 Percent in September 2008

October 23, 2008

According to foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, the foreclosure rate is falling nationwide. Versus August, foreclosures fell by 12 percent in September 2008 as more than half of the states showed month-over-month improvement. Most interesting in the data is that several states that led the foreclosure boom in 2007 now appear to be leading the charge out of it. For […]

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Foreclosures Fell 12 Percent in September 2008

October 10, 2008

According to foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, the foreclosure rate is falling nationwide. Versus August, foreclosures fell by 12 percent in September 2008 as more than half of the states showed month-over-month improvement. Most interesting in the data is that several states that led the foreclosure boom in 2007 now appear to be leading the charge out […]

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Pending Home Sales Shows That More Buyers May Be Shopping For Homes Than You Thought

October 9, 2008

Buyers are returning to the housing market. Each month, The National Association of REALTORS® tracks homes under contract to sell, but whose closing has not yet happened.  It calls them “pending sales” and publishes a monthly report to quantify them. The Pending Home Sales report is important because it’s meant to predict future home sales activity.  […]

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According To The Data, Housing May Have Already Touched Its Bottom

August 27, 2008

According to the June 2008 Case-Shiller Home Price Index, home prices in 15 of the 20 largest U.S. real estate markets either improved, or showed growth from the month prior. This is the fourth straight month in which that happened which means that a national housing recovery may already be underway. Now, it’s worth stating […]

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The Worst Places To Find Local Real Estate Information

August 22, 2008

Stories on TV about the national real estate market are misleading to Americans. This is because there is no such thing as a “national real estate market”. Consider the latest American Housing Survey.  It found that there are 124,377,000 homes in America spread across: 50 states, with More than 30,000 incorporated cities, and with An […]

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The Median Home Sales Price Fell Nationally, But “National” Data Is Irrelevant

August 15, 2008

Each month, the National Association of Realtors® releases a study called the Existing Home Sales report.  It’s a detailed look at “used” home sales data from all four regions of the country. One of the key findings in each Existing Home Sales report is something called the “median sales price”, the statistical price point at which half […]

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How To Make Sense Of The Pending Home Sales Index

August 12, 2008

When home sellers accepts a contract on MLS-listed property, the property’s official status changes from “Active” to “Pending”. By measuring the number of “Pending” homes nationwide, the National Association of Realtors® publishes its once-monthly Pending Homes Sales Index. The real estate industry group positions the report as a predictor of future home sales activity, stating that […]

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Why Are Home Buyers Coming Back To The Market Now? There’s Suddenly Good Value In Real Estate.

July 25, 2008

Statistics won’t always tell the whole story, but they often provide good perspective. The graph at right shows Existing Home Sales data going back three years.  An “existing home” is one that can’t be called new construction; a “used home”, so to speak. Note the steep decline from 2005 through late-2007. Since November, however, Existing […]

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Why Home Values May Rise When Home Building Falls To A 17-Year Low

June 18, 2008

A “Housing Start” is a new home on which construction has commenced and in May, Housing Starts fell to a 17-year low nationally. At first glance, this may seem like a negative for the already-battered U.S. housing market. It’s not. Falling Housing Starts reflects the broader real estate market and shows us that builders are working […]

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18 of 20 Real Estate Markets Show Signs Of Improvement

May 29, 2008

The monthly Case-Shiller Housing Price Index is a popular and often-quoted measurement of the housing market’s health.  The chart above is sourced from its report published yesterday. In 18 of the 20 largest metropolitan areas, home values declined at a slower pace than in the previously measured month.  The report also showed that national home prices […]

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How Far Will Your Salary Go In A Different City?

May 13, 2008

Just like real estate markets differ from town to town, so does the Cost of Living. Courtesy of CNNMoney, this helpful calculator measures the change in living expenses a person would face when moving between any two major cities in America. The key expenses compared are: Groceries Housing Utilities Transportation Healthcare The comparison data is […]

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The Difference A Zip Code Can Make

March 14, 2008

There is no such thing as a “national real estate market”. Real estate is local. We know this is true because even cities don’t have their own real estate market. This chart shows how home prices have diverged across adjacent zip codes over the last 12 months. Some influencing factors: School systems Infrastructure Proximity Supply […]

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How The Case-Shiller Home Price Index Over-Simplifies Real Estate Markets

December 27, 2007

The headlines say that home prices are down 6.7 percent from a year earlier.  It’s important to recognize that this is a national figure. “National” has nothing to do with real estate.  Real estate is local. The chart above is from the latest S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index and — averaged out — shows that home prices […]

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Why New Home Sales Data Doesn’t Tell Us Much About The Real Estate Market

December 4, 2007

October’s New Homes Sales report showed a modest month-over-month improvement from September. Before we interpret that to mean that the housing market is rebounding, though, let’s consider the fallibility of the New Home Sales report. On the Census Bureau’s Web site, there is a disclaimer about the validity of the data.  Paraphrased, it reads: A […]

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Monthly Reiteration: Real Estate Is Not A National News Story

October 25, 2007

The Wall Street Journal used a lot of ink this morning on September’s Existing Home Sales data, including the chart below.  It’s frightening to the lay person who may not know how to interpret data like this. Remember: real estate is local. Yes, on a national level the number of homes for sale in increasing […]

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What’s The Existing Home Sales Report Got To Do With You? Nothing.

August 28, 2007

When the National Association of Realtors® releases its monthly Existing Home Sales report, people tend to watch every word, fact and figure in the statement in hopes of decoding the real estate market. It’s all wasted energy. It’s impossible to use the NAR report in everyday living because the NAR report is a national story.  […]

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Why The Mortgage “Crisis” Is Not A “Crisis” For Everyone

August 17, 2007

Another day, another batch of Gloom-and-Doom stories in the news.  Remember to keep a level head — the media’s job, in part, is to sell newspapers and capture eyeballs.  Using the word “crisis” repeatedly is one way to meet that goal. A few facts to keep it all in perspective: There are still BILLIONS of […]

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Builders May Be Figuring Out The Market Faster Than Home Sellers

April 25, 2007

According to all of the headlines, existing home sales are down across the country.  Way down.  Check out this sampling: Sales of Existing Homes Plunge Steeply (NY Times) Existing Home Sales Plunge In March (Houston Chronicle) Existing Home Sales Plunge, Biggest Retreat In 18 Years (Salt Lake Tribune) However, it’s important to keep these statistics […]

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