December home sales were up from a shaky November, but they could have been better if not for the inventory shortage. Tthe market for existing-home sales underperformed its potential by 2.2 percent or an estimated 129,000 (SAAR) of sales, an improvement from the 6.2 percent underperformance in November The difference is the gap between actual and potential sales, as … Read More »

Will 2016 be remembered as the peak of the recovery?  It was the best year for sales in more than a decade.  Will sales take a break in 2017, a victim of political uncertainty, rising rates and prices that are outpacing incomes? Even worse, will 2017 herald a multi-year downtrend in sales? Last year, existing-home sales finished 2016 at 5.45 … Read More »

The real estate economy in the year just past broke records as well as hearts.  As soaring values left homeowners with more equity than they’ve seen in a decade, there’s not much good news in store for thousands of frustrated buyers who couldn’t find a home to buy last year. December’s data from the nation’s leading monthly market reports paint … Read More »

Top real estate executives’ confidence in the U.S. economy and housing market for 2017 has softened compared to two years ago, and 42 percent have grown less confident in the world economy since January, according to the latest Imprev Thought Leader Real Estate Confidence study. Respondents included nearly 240 broker-owners and top executives at leading franchises and independent brokerage firms, … Read More »

Home price increases will slow next year from this year’s above average pace of 4.75 percent, and in November 2017, values will reach the median price peak set a decade ago, in April 2007, according to the latest quarterly Zillow® Home Price Expectations (ZHPE) Survey sponsored by Zillow and conducted by Pulsenomics LLC. Estimates based on the survey of 111 … Read More »

The popular belief that the seven million Americans who lost their homes to foreclosure during the Housing Crash are healed, whole and forgiven of their debts after seven years have passed is only partly true. For foreclosures, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac set a seven-year waiting period before defaulters can apply for a mortgage, measured from the completion date of … Read More »

The median tenure homeowners plan to stay in their homes soared with the housing recession in 2008 for good reasons. Millions of owners were underwater and millions more lacked the 20 percent equity need to sell their home.  Many facing the need to move for job or space reasons found it easier to move and keep their old home to … Read More »

August brought even worse news for first-time and move-up buyer as chronic inventory shortages grow even, inflating home prices even more.  A double whammy of unaffordable prices and shrinking selections of homes for sale continue to handcuff the housing recovery. “Hopes of a meaningful sales breakthrough as a result of this summer’s historically low mortgage rates failed to materialize because … Read More »

The national homeownership rate has just fallen to its lowest level since June 1965, the month that the Rolling Stones released “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” and Peter Sellers and Romy Schneider starred in “What’s New Pussycat”.  Only 62.9 percent of families now own the homes in which they live.[1] “They’ said homeownership wouldn’t get any lower because the largest … Read More »

Is it just the end of the buying season or are home sales hitting a wall? A growing consensus of economists foresees a flattening in sales growth—or even year-over-year declines in the months to come-for the balance of the year and even into next year.  Sales may have reached a ceiling for the season. A combination of rising prices, slow … Read More »