The housing recovery is expected to grow at an annualized rate 0.6 percent through the third quarter of this year, then gain momentum and prices are projected to grow 3.7 percent between the third quarters of 2013 and 2014 until settling down to 3.3 percent annual increases over the next three years according to Fiserv, a financial services technology provider using data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Read More »

Single family home tenants are 18 percent more likely than apartment tenants to stay in their current homes five years or longer, suggesting that demand for single family homes, the fastest growing rental category, will be more stable than multifamily demand, according to a new national opinion survey released today by Premier Property Management Group. Read More »

How long has it been since you heard the words “sold at a premium over asking price?” For the past six years, sales prices ended up somewhere south od list prices by at least five percent. Now, in the markets where the recovery is hottest, sellers are increasingly experiencing multiple bid scenarios and buyers are pre-empting the competition with offers over list price that stir up memories of the boom years. 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 »

For the first time in years, the American public is hearing more good news than bad news about real estate values first time, as many say they are hearing mostly good news (25%) as bad news (24%) about real estate values. Read More »

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. Read More »

Foreclosures and lengthy days on market bolstered sales of home warranties at the outset of the housing crash four years ago, but now that foreclosures are down and tight inventories are shrinking days on market, are warranties in for tough times? Read More »

Despite falling delinquency rates among lenders as a whole, delinquencies increased for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers, especially in Florida. Coincidentally, CoreLogic announced today Florida leads the nation in the size of its foreclosure inventory. Read More »

As the President and Congress attempt to avoid the "fiscal cliff" scheduled to take effect a week from today, most leading housing economists and housing experts believe housing prices won’t suffer if the mortgage interest deduction were limited to mortgages of $500,000 or less and eliminated for interest paid on second mortgages for second homes, a possibility in the final negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff. Read More »