Tag Archives: Home Prices

In a new report, PropertyRadar found that single-family home sales in the Golden State were up 20 percent month-to-month, though year-to-date sales are still lagging compared to last year. In fact, according to PropertyRadar's director of economic research, Madeline Schnapp, "year-to-date sales volumes in 2014 are the lowest since 2008."

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), total existing-home sales rose 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.65 million in April. "Some growth was inevitable after sub-par housing activity in the first quarter, but improved inventory is expanding choices and sales should generally trend upward from this point," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.

As housing metrics continue to take unexpected turns, it’s become clear by now that the current recovery has functioned unlike any other. In the company's latest Economic & Housing Market Outlook, economists Frank Nothaft and Leonard Kiefer at Freddie Mac took a look at three fundamental areas—mortgage rates, home sales, and household formations—to figure out why.

Following a release from Redfin indicating mixed strength in April’s housing segment, RE/MAX has issued its own monthly report, echoing the theme of a cooling market compared to the last few years. "While sales and prices aren't growing at the rate they did last year, we still remain in a recovery with the market settling into a more sustainable growth pattern," said CEO Margaret Kelly.

In its Real-Time Price Tracker report for April, national brokerage Redfin reported a 12.4 percent monthly pickup in home sales across its 30 surveyed markets, restoring some faith in sales after an unexpected dive in March. However, compared to April 2013, last month's sales fell 7.6 percent short, with nine markets posting double-digit annual declines.

In a survey of 106 experts in housing and investments, Zillow found a slight majority—28 percent—pinned the most blame for declining affordability on stagnant income growth across the country, even as the rest of the economy has moved in a generally positive direction. At the same time, the number of respondents pointing to "abnormally high rates of home price and rent appreciation" as the main problem was only slightly smaller at 27 percent.

Prices rose 9 percent year-over-year for the first quarter of this year, according to FNC, Inc.'s Residential Price Index, which measures sales activity for non-distressed homes in the 100 largest metros in the country. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.6 percent in March. On an annual basis, Western states continue to lead the nation with drastic price gains.

In a recent blog post for the company, Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko notes that certain discrepancies do arise, specifically along the coasts, for middle-class homeownership. Kolko found that the middle class is getting priced out of California but finds more success in the Midwest. In fact, in 80 of the 100 largest U.S. metros, most of the homes for sale are within reach of the middle class.

The National Association of Home Builders, working with Wells Fargo, recently published its Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), which found 65.5 percent of new and existing homes sold from January through March were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $63,900. The figure from the first quarter was slightly higher than the 64.7 percent of homes sold that were considered affordable in the fourth quarter of last year.

CoreLogic released Tuesday its own quarterly Case-Shiller Indexes, assembled using the company’s proprietary data supplemented with statistics from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). While prices nationwide were up an estimated 11.3 percent in Q4, seven cities managed to shoot up into the 20 percent range year-over-year, with Las Vegas leading at 25.6 percent growth.