The pace at which home prices are rising should moderate later this year, according to an analysis from Capital Economics.
Read More »Asking Prices Continue to Grow in Least Affordable Markets
Nationally, asking prices increased 9.5 percent year-over-year in May, but in the ten least affordable metros, asking prices spiked 16.3 percent during the same time period.
Read More »Commentary: Does Homeownership Cause Unemployment?
When President George W. Bush followed his predecessor Bill Clinton in pushing homeownership, one loud dissenter was British economist Andrew Oswald, who argued that far from improving the economy--as Bush (and Clinton before him) said it would--homeownership hurts the economy in the long run. Now, Oswald and Dartmouth Economics Professor David Blanchflower are at it again in a new paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research with arguments even they admit may be shallow.
Read More »Report: Rising Prices Do Not Preclude Investor Income
As home prices rise across the nation with some markets charting double-digit increases, many markets still offer attractive opportunities for investors in single-family homes.
Read More »Home Equity Jumps 2.5 Percentage Points in Q1
Household net worth jumped by $3 trillion in the first quarter as real estate values grew $836 billion, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday in its quarterly Flow of Funds report. With a drop in mortgage debt, owners' equity in real estate increased a sharp 2.5 percentage points to its highest level since 2007. Owners' equity as a percentage of real estate value has been on a steady upward trajectory since dropping to 36.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
Read More »Beige Books Sees ‘Modest to Moderate’ Growth
The nation's economy grew at a "modest to moderate pace" from early April through the end of May, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in its periodic Beige Book. The report cited growing strength in the housing and residential construction sector and the impact on the broader economy, with residential real estate and construction activity increasing "at a moderate to strong pace in all Districts." In addition, "overall bank lending improved modestly since the previous report."
Read More »As Prices Rise Nationally, Local Trends Tell Different Story
Regional prices increased across the nation over the three-month period ending in May, according to Clear Capital's most recent home price report, but metro prices were mixed. According to Alex Villacorta, VP of research and analytics, "the diversity in price performance at the local level is mainly a function of the severity to which a particular housing market was hit during the housing crash." Consistent with this observation, Las Vegas and Phoenix continue to lead the recovery at the metro level.
Read More »April Prices See Biggest Yearly Gain Since February 2006
CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI) continued to grow stronger in April, according to the company's latest HPI report.
Read More »Report: Forces Behind Price Gains Won’t Last
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.
Read More »Commentary: Shrinking Bottom Line
The recent slip in financial corporation profits comes at a particularly critical time for the financial sector, as housing is in the midst of a nascent recovery.
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