-
November Pending Home Sales Smash Expectations
Tweet Share on Facebook December 29, 2011 Comment (3)Pending home sales smashed through expectations Thursday, reaching their highest level in 19 months, according to the National Association of Realtors. The strong rebound could signal coming strength in existing home sales, which reflect completed sales and tend to lag pending sales by a month or two.
A forward-looking indicator, the Pending Home Sales Index, which reflects when someone signs a contract to buy a home, surged more than 7 percent in November and is up almost 6 percent over last year's numbers. The last time the index reached these levels was in April 2010 as buyers rushed to take advantage of the home-buyer tax credit.
-
Housing Markets on the Mend
Tweet Share on Facebook December 28, 2011 Comment (1)After some encouraging housing and employment data in recent months, optimism about a budding housing recovery was dealt another blow Tuesday on news that home prices dipped in October. After incremental bumps earlier this year, home prices in 19 of the 20 markets the widely followed S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index saw month-over-month decreases according to the latest data.
But as the year draws to a close, month-over-month data isn't always the best barometer of individual housing market performance. And while annual numbers overall slid more than 3 percent, 14 of the 20 markets tracked saw their annual rates of change improve.
-
More Housing Woes on the Horizon?
Tweet Share on Facebook December 23, 2011 Comment (2)As the United States continues to grapple with the fallout of its housing bubble and blow-up, recent research from the International Monetary Fund uncovers some startling statistics about other countries that could be headed toward their own U.S.-style housing crises.
While home prices have fallen in about half of the countries the IMF tracks, they've risen in the other half. Those trends coupled with data used to gauge the affordability of housing and whether homes are valued correctly seems to indicate prices have significant room to fall.
-
Home Values Down $6.4 Trillion Since Housing Crash
Tweet Share on Facebook December 23, 2011 CommentAlmost $700 billion in home values went down the drain in 2011, according to new research. While that's 35 percent less than the $1 trillion that home values tanked in 2010 and the lowest total loss in four years, it brings the rolling tab of losses to more than $6.4 trillion since 2007.
Ouch. That's a long, hard fall after home prices surged more than $3 trillion dollars a year in the run-up to the crash.
-
Home Builder Confidence Hits 19-Month High
Tweet Share on Facebook December 19, 2011 Comment (2)It's not often you see optimism and the housing market in the same sentence, especially when it comes to the building sector. But things might be looking up for the industry, according to a report from the National Association of Home Builders, or, at least not looking as bad.
Confidence among home builders is up for the third month in a row to a 19-month high, according to December's NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Though still very weak, more consumer demand for new single-family homes could be fueling the three-month surge, says NAHB chief economist David Crowe. The index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations.
-
Cities Leading the Way Out of Recession
Tweet Share on Facebook December 16, 2011 Comment (1)Economic security seems like a fleeting concept for everyone these days, but when it comes to financial wellbeing, some regions of the United States fare better than others, and you might be surprised at the results.
Using data on unemployment, house price declines, housing affordability, and delinquency rates, Margery Turner of the Urban Institute ranked the 100 most populous metro areas, giving them each letter grades and numeric rankings.
-
Survey: Dems Lose Hope in Obama's Housing Fix
Tweet Share on Facebook December 15, 2011 Comment (1)Support among Democrats for President Obama's approach to the housing crisis is waning, according to a new survey from real estate website Trulia.
Back in 2009, 10 percent of dems said they were "not at all confident" in Obama's ability to stabilize the housing market in the next year. Flash forward a few years and that figure has jumped to more than 30 percent.
-
5 Documents You Need to Get a Mortgage (Faster)
Tweet Share on Facebook December 15, 2011 Comment (1)It might be a great time to buy a house according to the experts, but getting the money to pay for your new digs is a different story.
-
McMansions In This Market? Buyers Say "No Thanks"
Tweet Share on Facebook December 14, 2011 Comment (3)Back when the only requirement to get a loan was a detectable pulse, many Americans pulled out all the stops when it came to borrowing big bucks to finance palatial mega-mansions.
After all, bigger was better, right?
[Read: Why We're Shunning the McMansion.]
-
Priciest Place to Live in the U.S.? Surprise: It's Not NYC
Tweet Share on Facebook December 13, 2011 Comment (1)Hey New Yorkers, if you think it's hard affording a place to live in the Big Apple, just ask Washingtonians or San Franciscans. Apparently they have it even worse according to data analysis from the Urban Institute, which compared average incomes and rental prices in metropolitan areas across the nation.
San Franciscans need to make more than $70,000 to afford rent for a modest two-bedroom apartment in their city, followed by residents of Washington, D.C., who need to take home around $60,000 to afford digs in the capital city. New Yorkers weren't too far behind, having to earn around $55,000 to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
