With expectations high heading into spring, it’s been a decidedly underwhelming season. May marks the fifth consecutive month national yearly home price growth has softened. By year’s end, home prices are expected to normalize in the sub 5% annual growth range according to Clear Capital’s latest forecast in July’s HDI Market Report. Despite a lethargic spring buying season, the range … Read More »

Despite weak demand and an infusion of new listings over the past two months, listings are selling nearly as fast as a year ago and prices are still rising. Realtor.com reported this week that in April the total U.S. for-sale inventory of single family homes, condos, townhomes and co-ops rose by 8.56% over March, from 1,841,844 units in March to … Read More »

Housing markets overall are largely flat compared to a month ago and especially since last year at this time. Of those markets that are improving or experiencing a stable range of housing activity, most are benefiting from the energy boom taking place along the country’s mid-section. Freddie Mac’s Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) reports that: The national MiMi value stands at … Read More »

A few eyebrows raised when the latest FHFA House Price Index (HPI) reported the Charleston market led the nation in price increases during the first quarter (See South Carolina Plays Catch Up).  Charleston is not the only southeastern market to join the housing recovery. According to the latest monthly poll of southeastern broker and builder contacts by the Atlanta Federal … Read More »

The problem with the housing market this spring may not be that inventory is too small.  It also may not be tight lending standards, massive student loans, lingering levels of negative equity or a peripatetic economy. Maybe it’s just that nobody wants to buy what’s listed. Inventory trends are closely monitored but nobody keeps track of many ugly ducklings linger … Read More »

April sales were 10.9% better than they were in a rather dismal March, but they were still slower than they were a year ago by 7.8%, according to RE/MAX’s monthly  market report. In March, all 52 surveyed metro areas reported monthly sales increases, a trend continued in April with 50 of the 52 metros experiencing sales increases from the previous … Read More »

More than 100 housing economists and experts participating in a quarterly survey expect nationwide home values to appreciate 4.4 percent through the end of this year.  The most optimistic group of panelists predicted a 5.8 percent annual increase in home values this year, on average, while the most pessimistic predicted an average increase of 3.2 percent. .Panelists said they expect … Read More »

  Home prices broke the double digit barrier last year, but it won’t happen again this year, according to the CoreLogic Case-Shiller team. The CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indexes estimate that home prices increased by 11.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the same time a year ago. Home prices nationwide were 20 percent above the trough reached in … Read More »

It’s no secret that raising the cash for a down payment is the toughest hurdle first-time buyers face on the road to home ownership.  For many, government programs like FHA, USDA Rural Development guaranteed loans, VA loans and down payment assistance programs sponsored by state and local housing authorities have made all the difference. Yet requirements by lenders in the … Read More »

  While everyone from the chairman of the Federal Reserve to millions of home sellers and buyers pleads for a little relief from tight lending standards, the nation’s leading banks are moving in exactly the opposite way. In the latest survey of senior loan officers by the Fed, during the first quarter requirements to get a mortgage became tougher for … Read More »