Consumers are showing increased confidence in home sales and a greater sense of job security, according to the results of Fannie Mae's most recent National Housing Survey. January's findings show 41 percent of respondents believe home prices will go up in the next year, a decline of 2 percentage points from December's high. However, the share who believe prices will fall also dropped, returning to a survey low of 10 percent. The average 12-month home price change expectation in January was 2.4 percent.
Read More »Survey: Homeownership Important to 96% of Americans
Younger generations continue to hold a more favorable view of homeownership than their elders, according to Prudential Real Estate's end-of-year Outlook Survey. The report shows homeownership remains important to 96 percent of Americans, with 77 percent of respondents ages 25-34 and 78 percent ages 35-44 agreeing it is "very important." Those percentages fall off somewhat for older generations: 73 percent for the 45-54 crowd and 72 percent for those ages 55-64.
Read More »Analysts Draw Uneven Price Picture for East, West Coasts
While home prices are expected to increase by 5 percent on the national level, analysts at Capital Economics say some regions are more likely to see little to no growth at all.
Read More »Mortgage Rates Climb, Experts Split on Forecasts
Fixed mortgage rates took a major leap up last week amid news of a growing economy led in part by the recovering housing market.
Read More »Pending Home Sales Slide Back in December
The NAR's Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) fell 4.3 percent to 101.7 in December, the sharpest month-over-month drop since April.
Read More »Survey: Optimism over Prices Has Sellers Holding Off
According to Redfin's latest Real-Time Seller Survey, 81 percent of sellers believe home prices will rise in their area over the next year, up from 75 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. While the increase in seller confidence should translate to increased inventory, the results have yet to be seen. According to the survey, 49 percent of respondents indicated they were planning to sell, up from 45 percent in last quarter's survey. However, the percentage of respondents who indicated they were selling "right now" fell by nearly half.
Read More »December Sees Sharp Drop in New Home Sales
New home sales fell 7.3 percent in December to 369,000, the sharpest monthly drop in almost two years, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Friday. The monthly drop in sales was the largest since February 2011. Nonetheless, December 2012 sales were up 8.8 percent over December 2011. Sales for September, October, and November were revised higher, with the November sales pace reported as 398,000, up from the originally reported 377,000.
Read More »Fannie Mae: Slow Pace of Recovery ‘The New Normal’
While some analysts have been speculating over when the economy will return to its "normal" state, Fannie Mae says slow growth is the "new normal."
Read More »Florida Housing Market Sees Widespread Improvement in December
Florida's housing market continued on the course to recovery in December, according to the latest data released by Florida Realtors.
Read More »DataQuick: SoCal Home Sales, Prices Heat Up in December
The housing market in California's Southland region closed out 2012 with the highest number of December home sales in three years, real estate information company DataQuick reports. According to DataQuick, a total of 20,274 new and resale homes and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Orange counties in December. The month's total was 5.1 percent up from November and 5.3 percent up from December 2011.
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