Tag Archives: Confidence

The price of a new single-family home soared to a record high in April as sales jumped 2.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected April sales to increase to 425,000 from March's originally reported 417,000. March sales were revised to 444,000. The median price of a new home, according to the Census/HUD report, soared $20,900 (8.3 percent) in April to $271,600, the highest price on record.

The Real Estate Roundtable's outlook for commercial real estate (CRE) remained "modestly optimistic" in Q2 even as public policy uncertainties cloud the future, the group revealed in its Q2 2013 Sentiment Survey. The survey's "Overall Index" reading stands at 69 in the most recent release, unchanged from the previous quarter. That score is based on the average of two indices: the Current Conditions Index (which read 71 for Q2, an increase of one point over Q1) and the Future Conditions Index (67 for Q2, unchanged).

In sharp contrast to reports of improving builder confidence, housing starts plunged at the steepest rate in more than two years in April.

When the Federal Open Market Committee completed its two-day meeting at the beginning of May, it issued the usual six-paragraph post-meeting statement.

April saw continued growth in American optimism when it comes to housing health, according to results in Fannie Mae's monthly National Housing Survey. More than half of those who took the survey (51 percent, up from 48 percent in March) said they expect home prices to climb in the next year, while 10 percent--flat for the fourth straight month--expect declines. Thirty-five percent expect no changes. April's report marks the first time in survey history that more than half of respondents projected price gains.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which took a hit in March as the first effects of the sequester were felt, increased from 61.9 to 68.1 in April, the firm reported. Consumers were considerably more upbeat about the near future than they were in March. The Conference Board's Expectations Index improved to 73.3 in April, a jump from 63.7 the prior month. While more respondents also expressed confidence in their assessment of current conditions, monthly gains were only moderate.

The Survey of Consumers Index of Consumer Sentiment dropped a bit from March to April but stayed level on a yearly basis, according to the latest release. The overall index declined to 76.4 from 78.6 in March, a drop of 2.8 percent. April 2012's index also read 76.4. According to Survey of Consumers, most of April's loss was in how consumers viewed future economic prospects: "In particular, consumers were less optimistic about the ability of the economy to continue to expand without a renewed downturn sometime in the next five years."

The appraiser community is starting to show confidence in today's housing climate, United States Appraisals revealed in a release.

Following a "robust" holiday shopping season, consumer spending slowed to a more cautious pace in this year's first quarter, according to new data from the Chase Freedom Lifestyle Index. The index shows overall spending was down 9 percent from the last quarter of 2012, falling to a level about even with last year's first quarter. As winter gave way to spring, March saw consumers shift their spending focus to home improvement projects (up 25 percent from February) and clothing/apparel (up 28 percent).

The infectious optimism surrounding the housing market has the majority of Americans feeling more positive, according to survey results from Gallup. According to Gallup's findings, 51 percent of those surveyed said they expect home prices to rise in their area over the next year--the first time since 2007 that that number has been above 50 percent. Last year, only 33 percent of respondents gave the same answer. In this year's survey, 34 percent of Americans said prices will stay the same, while 14 percent said prices will fall.