While consumers are still "generally positive" on average about housing and the economy, attitudes over the last few months suggest optimism has hit a plateau, Fannie Mae says. While September's survey results show attitudes leading up to the October shutdown, they do not necessarily reveal its full effects (or those of the pending debt ceiling debate), the company noted. Those results should be seen in the surveys for October and the following months.
Read More »Asking Home Prices Slow in Hottest Markets
Trulia is the latest company to report a monthly slowdown in home prices--and trends indicate yearly gains may soon cool as well. "Asking home prices give us the first look at where home sale prices are headed, and they point to a slowdown," said Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko. "After rising rapidly in the first half of 2013, asking prices in two thirds of the largest metros are cooling. In fact, asking prices are falling--not just rising more slowly--in 11 of the 100 largest metros, the most markets to see prices slip in six months."
Read More »Market Shifts from Sellers’ Control
Real estate agents say the housing market is beginning to shift from seller control, and they expect price gains to moderate over the next several months, according to the latest survey from Redfin.
Read More »Price Gains Expected to Persist with West Leading the Nation
National home prices will rise 4.8 percent over the next year, according to a third-quarter forecast from Veros Real Estate Solutions, a risk management, valuation services, and analytics firm based in Santa Ana, California. Regionally, Veros predicts continued strengthening in the West and a lag in the Northeast and parts of the South. The top 10 markets labeled by Veros' forecast are all located in Western states: Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.
Read More »Fitch: Healthy Improvements in Housing Metrics Still Expected
Though recent reports seem to indicate a hitch in the ongoing housing recovery, Fitch Ratings maintains its expectations of a healthy increase in housing metrics through this year and the next. "As we have noted previously, recovery in the housing market will likely occur in fits and starts and housing absolute numbers are still low relative to past cycles," the company said in its latest analysis. "Expansion should not be expected as a total slope upward, as there are a number of variables that intervene."
Read More »Price Increases Slow as Housing Market Heads Into Fall
According to CoreLogic's monthly Home Price Index (HPI) report, house prices nationwide (including distressed sales) increased 12.4 percent on a yearly basis in August. On a monthly basis, prices were up only 0.9 percent. "After a strong run, the rate of home price appreciation slowed in August. In addition to normal seasonality, the recent sharp rise in mortgage rates off their historic lows was a clear driver behind the slowdown," said Anand Nallathambi, CoreLogic's president and CEO.
Read More »August Housing Metrics Point to Slowing Recovery
DataQuick's monthly Property Intelligence Report (PIR), which examines home price and sales metrics as well as foreclosure data across 42 counties, is the latest in a line of reports pointing to mounting evidence that the housing recovery is losing some of its energy. According to the company's data, home prices in August grew in 40 of the 42 counties on a monthly basis and in all counties on a quarterly and yearly basis. However, though growth was positive, the rate of improvement is on the decline.
Read More »Analysis: South Remains Strong for Investment Opportunities
HomeVestors of America and Local Market Monitor together released a ranking of the most promising investment markets for the third quarter of 2013.
Read More »Report: Home Prices Fully Recovered in 22% of Top Markets
According to Homes.com's latest report, 22 of the top 100 markets in the United States reported price increases of more than 100 percent from their respective troughs, up from 19 the month prior. Marketing analyst Nicole Selvaggi explained that most of the markets that have come back completely "never suffered the significant numbers of foreclosures and short sales that characterized the housing economy from 2007 to 2012," and seven of the top 20 have benefited greatly from energy development from oil, gas, shale, or coal.
Read More »New Home Sales Recover From July Plunge
Builders lowered prices and buyers responded in August, pushing new home sales up 7.9 percent to 421,000, reversing almost half of July's 64,000 drop in sales, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Wednesday. The report for August showed a slight shift away from higher-priced homes as houses priced at $500,000 or more accounted for 9 percent of August sales, down from 12 percent in July. Homes priced at $300,000 or less represented 63 percent of all August sales, unchanged from July.
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