Tag Archives: For-Sale Homes

Both home sales and prices rose at double-digit rates above May 2012, and inventory is showing signs of stability, RE/MAX reported.

Prices shot up in May even as for-sale inventory showed signs of recovery, according to Redfin's Real-Time Price Tracker. According to the brokerage's findings, home prices came in 4.3 percent higher month-over-month and 17.4 percent higher year-over-year in May (to a median $208 per square foot). Eighteen of the 19 markets measured by Redfin saw monthly improvement in prices (Austin being the exception), and all 19 reported yearly increases. Once again, the West proved strongest.

According to Redfin, listings increased 4.2 percent in May, adding to April's 6.4 percent growth. While total inventory was still down 22 percent year-over-year in May, that was still an improvement compared to January's 32 percent annual drop. Some markets are already ahead of the curve: Phoenix turned in a 14.1 percent year-over-year increase in May, while Chicago came in 0.4 percent ahead of last year. On the other hand, markets like Los Angeles and Boston still have a ways to go.

Builder confidence surged eight points in June to 52, its highest reading since March 2006, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported Monday. It was the first positive (above 50) reading for the association├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Housing Market Index (HMI) since April 2006. Two of the three components of the index--builder assessment of current sales and of sales six months in the future--were also positive. The current sales index rose eight points to 56, and the future sales index jumped nine points to 61.

The overall number of listings on Zillow was down 12.2 percent year-over-year at the start of June, an improvement from the 17.5 percent shortfall recorded in January.

Redfin agents reported 69.5 percent of offers written in May faced competition, a decrease from 73.3 percent in April.

Markets across the nation can expect to see sales soften in June and July, based on early reports from Redfin agents around the country.

CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI) continued to grow stronger in April, according to the company's latest HPI report.

Though Radar Logic's home price index continued to see strong gains in March, the firm says there are several signs that the trend won't last, the main one being the issue of limited supply. According to Radar Logic, the three supply constraints that will ease with rising prices are low and negative equity, seller psychology, and building activity, all of which are just temporary factors that will fade as the market continues to pick up steam. Once these "unorthodox" market forces fade, demand will also cease, the report says.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a disappointing 0.3 percent gain in its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) in April.