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Seven Million to Struggle with Negative Equity for Four Years or More
Though three million homeowners were freed from the shackles of negative equity in the past year, it will take at least four more years for 7 million or more deeply indebted homeowners to reach positive equity, even as home values continue their current pace of recovery.
More Consumers Expect Rates to Rise
The share of consumers who believe interest rates will go up over the next year increased another 5 percentage points to 62 percent, the highest level in the three-year history of Fannie Mae’s July 2013 National Housing Survey.
Soaring Rates Spook Sellers
Nearly half of all sellers in a recent survey are worried that rising mortgage rates will tank buyer demand, a doubling of concern since the first quarter.
ILHM: “Luxury Segment has been Leading the Recovery”
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jul 10, 2013
In response to a June 27 Real Estate Economy Watch article asserting that for the first time since the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing began tracking upper tier market trends in 2008, its Market Action Index hit the threshold that separates buyer’s and seller’s markets earlier this month, ILHM Founder Laurie Moore-Moore points out that he luxury segment has actually been LEADING the recovery for more than a year.
Buyers Cry Uncle
By: Steve Cook; Sat, May 25, 2013
With prices rising every week, lenders as strict as ever, inventories at decade-low levels, interest rates starting to rise and competition for homes breaking their hearts, more and more buyers are reaching their frustration limits.
Pet Wars: Apartments Strike Back
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Apr 29, 2013
Apartment owners and managers are fighting tooth and claw to dispel the myth that multifamily living is unfriendly to pets, a longstanding motivation that has driven pet-lovers to become homeowners.
Americans Exit the Housing Crisis with New Appreciation for Renting
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Apr 3, 2013
Six years of crisis have changed forever the way Americans think about housing. It’s good news for rental housing and not so good news for the home ownership industry, according to a massive new study conducted by Hart Research for the MacArthur Foundation.
Sellers Awaken and Buyers Accelerate
The percentage of customers signing offers in January increased by 12 percentage points according to a leading brokerage and 23 percent of Americans think it is a good time to sell compared to 11 percent the same time last year, according to Fannie Mae’s January 2013 National Housing Survey results.
Asians Lead Ultra Luxury Foreign Invasion
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 18, 2012
Nearly twice as many homes priced over $10 million were sold to Asians as Western Europeans in the US last year, while buyers from the Americas dominate a far greater share of the international sales for all price tiers than either Asians or Western Europeans.
Buyers Grow More Worried Over Prices
By: editor; Mon, Dec 17, 2012
Nearly three quarters of potential buyers believe home prices will increase in their neighborhood in the next twelve months, twice as many as in the first quarter.
The Graying of Homeownership: Tight Credit is Tough on Younger, Single Buyers
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Nov 16, 2012
High lending standards that make it virtually impossible for millions of younger, single home buyers to get a mortgage are creating an older, more married and wealthier population of homeowners.
Homeowners Recover 13.5 Percent of Lost Equity Through Q3
Rising home values have brought homeowner equity to its highest level since the third quarter of 2008 and helped lift 1.3 million families above water. Homeowner equity jumped $406 billion, or 5.9 percent, to $7,275 billion in the second quarter of 2012, according to the Obama Administration’s September Housing Scorecard.
Agents Still More Positive than Owners
By: editor; Wed, Oct 3, 2012
Real estate professionals continue to be more optimistic about the direction of home values than homeowners. Fifty-one percent of real estate professionals expect home values to increase, up from 48 percent from last quarter. Thirty-four percent of homeowners expect home values to increase, up from 27 percent last quarter.
One Homeowner Out of Eight Undervalues Their Home
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Sep 28, 2012
About one out of eight, or 17 percent, or homeowners with a mortgage believes their home is worth less than the amount they owe when in fact the opposite is true, suggesting that large numbers of owners are undervaluing their homes, perhaps due to recent home price increases.
Are Sellers Waking Up?
By: Steve Cook; Mon, May 7, 2012
It’s no secret that this is a good time to buy, but more and more sellers are beginning to think that it’s also getting to be a good time to buy… at least better than it was six months ago.
Emotion Drives One in Four Home Sales
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Mar 29, 2012
As thousands of American families prepare to sell and buy homes during the 2012 season, some 28 percent of women and 25 percent of men put more emphasis on their feelings about a home than they do on the layout, square footage, or price.
Consumers Warm up Early Spring Surveys
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Mar 7, 2012
The weatherman is not the only source of spring-like forecasts this week. Two national surveys released today found that consumers are feeling better about the real estate picture for the first time in months
Young Minorities Value Homeownership 2 to 1 Over Whites
Compared with whites, greater shares of both black and Hispanic young adults say owning their own home is among their top priorities. While 25 percent of blacks and 26 percent of Hispanics say owning a home is of the highest importance in their lives, only 12 percent of whites say the same.
Homeownership Stronger in Higher Priced States
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jan 26, 2012
Support for homeownership is greater in states whose median home value is higher than the national average, according to a new national survey of homeowners.
Consumers Top the Experts in 2012 Home Price Outlook
By: editor; Tue, Jan 10, 2012
For the past six months, one consumer survey after another has tracked increasingly negative expectations about home prices in the year to come while some expert forecasts were more positive. Now, Fannie Mae has turned the tables.
Seller Negativity is Killing Sales
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 30, 2011
Blame sellers, not buyers, for the lousy real estate market. Deeply negative sentiment is causing sellers to lose sales or keep their homes off the market altogether. Buyer sentiment is not expected to improve in the near term and market activity will remain sluggish for months to come.
Consumers Grow Gloomier over Housing Recovery
Even as consumer confidence in the economy as a whole brightens, hopes for a housing recovery are growing increasingly gloomy.
Spooky Fears Haunt Consumers
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 10, 2011
Consumers don’t plan to buy homes anytime soon because they think prices will fall farther next year, mortgage rates will stay low for a long time and they’re very worried about their personal financial situation.
Thirty-Somethings Fear Home Values Won’t Help Retirement
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Sep 20, 2011
Nearly half of all homeowners in their thirties have lost hope that their homes will recover enough value in time to play an important role in paying for their retirement.
Buyers are Less Satisfied, Sellers More
By: editor; Fri, Jul 29, 2011
Home buyers are less satisfied today with real estate brokerage services from franchises and seller s more so than they were a year ago. That’s the bottom line from J.D. Power and Associates’ 2011 Home Buyer/Seller Study.
More Owners Remodel Rather than Move
By: Steve Cook; Mon, May 16, 2011
The March BuildFax Remodeling Index, which is based on building permit data, increased for the seventeenth straight month on a year-over-year basis as the residential remodeling industry continued to strengthen and more homeowners opted to stay where they are and remodel rather than move.
Home Sellers Regret Going it Alone
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Feb 25, 2011
Homeowners who used a real estate professional to sell their homes reported a 50 percent better closing rate than those who went it alone, according to a new consumer survey by HomeGain.
HUD Moves to Protect Gay Rights in Housing
By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Thu, Jan 27, 2011
The housing market took another big step towards civil rights and equality last week when the United States Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed a new rule to guarantee equal access to housing regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Support for Homeownership Falls 6 Percent
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 15, 2010
The number of Americans who believe buying a home is a good financial decision has fallen every year since 2007 and reached a low of 77 percent this year, according to an annual survey released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors.
Home Builder Confidence Dips as Homebuyer Credit Deadline Nears
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 19, 2009
With the expiration date for the first-time homebuyer tax credit approaching, builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes slipped one point to 18 in October.
Better Days Ahead for Remodelers
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 15, 2009
The remodeling industry is turning a corner and annual consumer spending for home improvement should start to rise in the beginning of next year
Homebuyers Will Regain Negotiating Edge: Zillow Economist
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Oct 13, 2009
Foreclosures and the demise of the first-time homebuyer tax credit will swing the negotiating advantage back to buyers and away from sellers, who have been enjoying an improved status in many markets as declining inventories discourage price reductions.
Home Price Discounts Shrink as Inventories Fall
By: Steve Cook; Sun, Oct 11, 2009
Falling inventories are helping home sellers gain a negotiating edge over buyers for the first time in many months.
Apartment Renters Save Money With Roommates
By: Steve Cook; Sat, Oct 10, 2009
To save money, more and more renters are teaming up with a roommate or two in a larger unit rather than living alone in a studio or one bedroom apartment, but they are driving up vacancy rates.
Reverse Mortgages Could Become a Fiasco for Senior Citizens
By: David Lereah; Wed, Oct 7, 2009
Senior households may become the next group of consumers harmed by irresponsible marketing and selling practices according to a report released by a major consumer organization released yesterday.
Apartment Rental Vacancies Go Through the Roof
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Oct 6, 2009
After setting a 20-year record last summer, the national apartment vacancy rate has risen even higher in the third quarter and there is no relief in sight for landlords through the balance of the year.
Customer Satisfaction with Homeowners Insurance Rises
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 5, 2009
For the first time in five years, overall consumer satisfaction with homeowners insurance has increased significantly, driven by favorable customer perceptions of the value of their policies.
Massachusetts AG Busts Scheme to Prey on Homeowners in Trouble
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 2, 2009
A Worcester, Mass. grand jury indicted an Oxford, Mass. attorney and three accomplices late last week for a complicated scheme to defraud desperate homeowners facing foreclosure..
Pot Planters Plead Guilty of Massive Mortgage Fraud
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 2, 2009
Four South Florida brothers pleaded guilty in Miami yesterday to obtaining 18 mortgages fraudulently in five different Florida counties to buy houses for a massive marijuana farming operation.
Move-Up Home Buyers are Stuck in Neutral
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 1, 2009
More renters became homeowners last month but fewer existing homeowners moved up to more desirable homes or neighborhoods even though they acknowledge current home prices are a good value, according to an industry-sponsored survey. Most potential move-up buyers believe homes are more affordable today than in recent months and 69 percent believe the economy is improving. […]
Lennar Increases Home Starts
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Sep 21, 2009
One of the nation’s largest homebuilders reported increased losses during the third quarter but also issued a forecast on the housing market that was so rosy it moved stocks higher during pre-market futures trading this morning.
3.7 Million Unemployed Miss Payments
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Sep 8, 2009
About one quarter of the nation’s 14.9 million unemployed workers have missed a mortgage, rent, or credit card payment according to a comprehensive national survey of 1,200 Americans nationwide who have been unemployed and looking for a job in the past 12 months, including 894 who are still jobless.
Foreclosures Dim Minorities’ Dreams
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Aug 25, 2009
The make-up of American homeownership is becoming increasingly white as foreclosures turn the dream of owning a home into a nightmare for thousands of minority families, pushing the minority homeownership rate to its lowest level in decades.
Stocks Tank on First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Aug 24, 2009
Even though the first-time home buyer tax credit doesn’t expire for three months, analysts’ assessment of the pending demise of the credit sent helped end the stock market’s four day rally today, driving down housing and financial stocks.
Buying is Becoming as Cheap as Renting
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Aug 12, 2009
Home prices have dropped so much in the past two years that if they continue to fall as expected, monthly ownership costs will be less than monthly rents in a number of major markets, according to a new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Low Income Housing Coalition.
Home Values Keeping Sinking in Q2
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Aug 11, 2009
There’s little to smile about in Zillow’s latest report on home values: US home values fell 12.1 percent year-over-year, marking the 10th consecutive quarter of declines; Total home sales fell 23.7 percent in June versus a year earlier; and more than one-fifth (23 percent) of all owners of single family homes with mortgages owe more on a mortgage than their home is currently worth.
Match-up of the Fixes: Cash for Clunkers vs. Homebuyers’ Tax Credit
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Aug 4, 2009
It’s hard to turn on a newscast these days without hearing about the Cash for Clunkers program and what it has done for the auto industry. It’s also hard to resist the urge to make comparisons between Washington’s two great fixes to stimulate the economy: C4C and the first-time homebuyers’ tax credit. If you’re thinking that the real estate industry needs a Cash for Clunkers program, you might match up of the two fixes to see if it makes sense. New Housing Forecasts available now at: https://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/category/housing-forecasts/forecasts/
This Schizophrenic Market is a Long Way from Healing
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jul 27, 2009
Like black markets that spring up in ravaged cities during wartime, there’s something inherently unhealthy about the existence of a two-tiered housing market, one for “normal” sales and one for “distressed” sales.
The Pending Supply
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jul 15, 2009
Perhaps you’ve heard of the pending demand for real estate-prospective buyers who have postponed taking action until they perceive conditions have optimized. There’s also a pending supply of real estate and it’s large enough to have a serious impact on the housing markets if a recent study is correct.
Fear and Opportunity
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jul 9, 2009
A new national survey by Move, Inc, operator of Realtor.com, sheds some light on the two most powerful factors motivating buyers in this complicated market. Those would be fear and opportunity.
Why They Walk Away…
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jul 7, 2009
A recent study conducted by researchers from the graduate schools of business at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University found that one out of four homeowners who default on their mortgages make a strategic decision to clear out their belongings and walk away from their homes-even if they can afford to pay their mortgages.
Remodelers on the Rebound
By: Steve Cook; Sun, May 24, 2009
There’s an old construction industry adage that goes something like this: when home builders prosper, remodelers have hard times and when remodelers are doing well, it’s a bad market for builders.
Homeowners Accept Reality
By: Steve Cook; Sat, May 16, 2009
For the first time during the current real estate recession, most homeowners have come to grips with the fact that their homes have lost value during the past year.
Public Mood Swings to Real Estate
By: Steve Cook; Sat, May 9, 2009
National surveys over the past month are detecting a change in public attitudes towards real estate for both homeowners and investors.
Surveys Find Consumer Confidence Improving
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Apr 24, 2009
Two new public opinion surveys taken last week found encouraging stirrings of consumer confidence and pent- up demand for homeownership. A new national survey conducted last weekend and commissioned by Move, Inc. found that 23 percent of adults plan to purchase a home in the next five years, and more than half of them are first-time homebuyers, even though half of all Americans are concerned they or someone they know will face foreclosure in the next six to 12 months. The Move survey also found nearly one out of five home owners plan to take advantage of the Administration’s new program to help prevent foreclosures. While searching for answers in the past 12 months, 21 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage contacted a lender to restructure their loan. Half of those homeowners who contacted their lender experienced success while six percent still await an answer. Despite today’s challenging market conditions, 18.1 percent of adults plan to buy a home this year in order to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit recently passed by Congress in the Administration’s economic stimulus package.
Confidence in Banks Plummets
Americans have less confidence in banks than ever, but most like the …
Support Grows for Foreclosure Policy
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 17, 2009
Two national surveys conducted immediately after President Obama released the outline of his foreclosure plan ten days ago show a marked shift in public opinion in support of using government aid to help homeowners having problems paying their mortgages. Yet the nation remains split over whether the policy is fair or unfair to those who have met their mortgage payments.
A Growing Confidence Problem
By: David Lereah; Tue, Jan 27, 2009
It is not an overstatement to say that confidence has played a significant role during the past decade with regard to the performance of the economy and housing markets. Who could forget the day when America shook after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and consumer and investor confidence plummeted?
By: editor; Thu, Aug 29, 2013
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