How real estate has changed in just a few months! For six years, real estate professionals have struggled to get buyers back into the market with advertising campaigns, incentives, and the willingness to suffer social abuse for proclaiming the housing depression to be a great time to buy a home. Read More »

At long last, there are signs that the unprecedented year-long decline in for-sale inventories are slowing, though continuing to fall, just in time for the spring home buying season. But inventories may continue to decline through 2013. Read More »

The major national home price reports agree on trends but never agree on numbers because their data comes from different places and are manipulated differently to create the most accurate results. Yesterday S&P Case-Shiller announced 20012’s gain was 7.3 percent. The federal government’s index showed a 5.5 percent gain. Read More »

How far can inventories fall? The latest existing home data suggests we have yet to find out because they are still in freefall just two months before the spring buying season nears. Will sellers warm up in time to populate the MLSs with enough listings to get buyers excited? Or will the inventory drought drive buyers away at the most important time of the year for housing markets? Read More »

The rise in student loan debt is certainly a cause for concern, but may not be a significant a drag on young home buyers since the typical borrower has not seen a significant jump in the amount of debt incurred and seems to have a manageable monthly payment. Read More »

With inventories down and prices up, sellers are ending the costly incentives they have been forced to offer buyers during the six-year long buyers’ market. Concession-free transactions make deal-making simply on both sides of the table. Read More »

Home prices in 2012 finished the year strong, boosted off the market lows of early 2012. Hot markets in the year to come will reflect improving local economies and low price points. Read More »

As the year draws to a close, the median asking price for listings has fallen to just 2.6 percent above the level of a year ago, significantly below the year-over-year high for the year of 3.8 percent recorded in April on the housetracker.net database. Read More »

Pocket listings-homes sold outside multiple listing systems-have become extraordinarily popular over the past year, creating a secondary residential market place that raises questions about the value and role of the Realtor-run MLS system that has dominated residential real estate for more than a century. Read More »

Markets that fell hardest during the housing crash five years ago today are racking up the biggest year over year gains as the prices in the nation as a whole through October exceeded analysts’ forecasts. Housing markets that were on their knees just a year or so ago from foreclosures and low employment today are seeing prides rise much faster than cities that never felt the housing crash, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Read More »