Texas' real estate market experienced a healthy first quarter, picking up right where 2012 left off, the Texas Association of Realtors revealed in its latest Quarterly Housing Report.
Read More »Are Housing Headwinds Actually a Blessing?
Gains in home prices over the last year haven't provided enough lift to offset the headwinds holding the recovery down, but that might not be such a bad thing.
Read More »FOMC Votes to Continue Low Rates, Bond Buy Program
With a swipe at both the President and the Congress and concerns about downside risks to the economy, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 11-1 Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged and to continue its program of purchasing agency mortgage backed securities and longer term Treasury securities to maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative. Kansas City Fed President Esther George cast the lone negative vote.
Read More »Homeownership Rate Declines to Lowest Level Since 1995
The nation's homeownership rate fell to 65 percent in the first quarter of 2013, according to data from the Census Bureau.
Read More »Pending Home Sales Climb in March, Progress Slows
The National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 1.5 percent to 105.7 in March, the highest level in almost three years, the group reported.
Read More »Commentary: What’s Up (or Down) With Housing?
The numbers and headlines last week offered mixed signals: Existing-home sales dropped month-to-month as the median price increased, while another report showed new home sales fell as the median price increased.
Read More »Redfin: Sellers Showing More Faith in Market
According to responses collected by Redfin, 45 percent of sellers believe now is a good time to sell, up from just 22 percent in the first quarter and 15 percent in last year's fourth quarter. At the same time, 44 percent say now is a good time buy, down from 54 percent last quarter. Having survived the slower cold season, homeowners were also a little more optimistic about future home price increases. Seventy percent of those surveyed expect prices will rise "a little" in their area in the next year, while 15 percent anticipate prices will rise "a lot."
Read More »Massachusetts Home Sales Depressed in March
While other states spent March gearing up for a busy spring season, Massachusetts saw a decline in sales throughout the month, the Boston-based Warren Group reported.
Read More »DataQuick: California Home Sales, Prices Shoot Up in March
An estimated 37,764 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide in California in March--a monthly increase of 31.5 percent, according to information released by San Diego-based DataQuick. March's sales numbers also came in 0.8 percent above March 2012's 37,481, DataQuick reported.
Read More »New Home Sales Rise in March as Prices Plummet
After experiencing the sharpest drop in two years in February, new home sales increased 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 417,000 in March, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected March sales to increase to 419,000 from a February's originally reported 411,000. The median price of a new home, according to the Census-HUD report, plunged $17,900 (or 6.8 percent) in March to $247,000, the largest month-over-month decline since February 2011.
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