Tag Archives: Home Prices

The Data & Analytics division of Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS) reported no monthly change in its Home Price Index (HPI) for January, underlining the question as to where other home price reports—including the monthly Case-Shiller Home Price Indices—will land for the year’s first month. BKFS’ latest report shows the index registering $232,000 in January, unchanged from the end of 2013. Year-on-year, the index was up 8 percent from $215,000.

According to the National Association of Realtor’s sales data, total existing-home sales—including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops—declined 0.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.60 million, matching a consensus forecast among economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Following January’s decline, February took the new record for having the slowest sales pace since July 2012.

A look at buyers' and sellers' markets around the country from Zillow shows that the better job market in the West is drawing more buyers and driving up competition for homes in more economically stable cities, thus giving sellers the upper hand in home sales negotiations in western metro areas. Meanwhile, leverage for buyers is strongest in cities in the East and Midwest, where less competition for homes will likely give them more room for bargaining on prices.

While usually slow, February home sales were especially soft this year, thanks to the combined factors of harsh weather, higher prices, and slim inventory. According to RE/MAX's latest National Housing Report, home sales dropped by 8.8 percent year-over-year last month, outdoing January's loss of 7.1 percent. Of the 52 metros surveyed for the report, 42 posted declines.

Higher housing costs took another bite out of sales activity in California in February, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) reported Monday. Compiling data from more than 90 local Realtor associations and listing services statewide, C.A.R. determined sales of existing, single-family homes last month came to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 361,210, marking the fourth straight month that sales were below the 400,000 level.

According to an analysis by RE/MAX, bitter weather and a small inventory of homes for sale were the primary factors causing reduced sales activity in the Chicago area in February. The report commented, "Mortgage interest rates, which remain comfortably under 5 percent for 30-year fixed-rate loans, continue providing stimulus to the housing market."

The national median listing price improved to nearly $200,000 last month despite an improvement in inventory numbers, Realtor.com reported in its February Monthly Housing Trend Report. The increase in both list price as well as inventory points to a "strong early beginning to this spring's home buying season," the report said, with Move, Inc., CEO Steve Berkowitz adding, "Overall these figures indicate a continued reinforcement of steady gains and market stabilization that we've been watching since late last summer."

Home sales declined for the fourth consecutive month with sharp drops in West Coast markets, according to the latest Real-Time Price Tracker from Redfin, a national real estate brokerage. With the spring selling season about to get underway, the company says March and April should offer insight into buyers’ willingness and ability to adapt to higher costs—as well as sellers’ ability to price appropriately, a skill some are having to relearn to stay competitive.

Redfin released Thursday its Real-Time Demand Pulse, a monthly analysis of home tour requests and signed offers across 23 surveyed markets. According to the company, the number of home tour requests among thousands of its customers grew only 1.9 percent between January and February, falling short of a 6 percent increase over the same months in 2013. Meanwhile, signed offers increased 17.8 percent compared to a 20 percent jump last year.

Real estate tech firm FNC Inc.’s Residential Price Index (RPI) continued to accelerate in January—and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. According to the company, the index, which measures price movements with distressed sales excluded, jumped up 9.0 percent annually in January following an 8.7 percent boost in December. On a monthly basis, the index’s national composite increased 0.4 percent, beating December’s 0.3 percent gain.