Tag Archives: Housing Market

The housing market will move steadily in 2015 driven by solid labor market improvements, low mortgage rates, an economy that is growing, and pent-up demand–but the pace should really pick up next year, according to economists who attended the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) 2015 Spring Construction Forecast Webinar earlier this week.

The most improved states in the last three months were Oregon, Michigan, Florida, California and Kentucky, with Oregon jumping more than 2 percent. And on a year-over-year basis, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Oregon and Rhode Island saw the biggest increases. In fact, since this time last year, MiMi values for Nevada have improved more than 11 percent.

The three fastest-growing areas of the country were largely immune from the effects of the housing crisis, leading Massachusetts-based Pro Teck Valuation Services to conclude that population growth is a strong indicator of home values, according to a report the company released Wednesday.

Approximately 350,000 borrowers eligible for re-purchase are currently unable to do so due to tight financial markets, and as many as 260,000 borrowers may never return to homeownership at all, the report says, because their former loans were backed by loose lenders.

Purchase mortgage applications rebounded sharply in April from a recent slowdown, reaching their highest level in almost two years, marking the second monthly surge in purchase apps this year. Combined with continued low mortgage rates, the rise in purchase apps could indicate a strong homebuying season in the spring and summer.

But these declining numbers are nothing new. The numbers of renters making the transition to homeownership has dropped consistently over the past couple of years, and rates have remained below 17 percent mark (the historical average) since 2008.

Most Fed districts reported improvement in residential real estate, namely Cleveland, Richmond, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. The remaining districts reported steady residential real estate activity, except for New York, which said conditions were softening. Construction activity slowed in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Dallas due to harsh winter weather conditions.

Despite a brutal winter and a slowdown in economic activity in the first quarter, Freddie Mac is sticking to its previous prediction that 2015 will be the best year for home sales since 2007, according to Freddie Mac's U.S. Economic and Housing Report for April 2015 released Thursday.

Smoke determined the 20 hottest housing markets in the nation based on the number of listing views relative to the number of listings when looking at March data and website traffic. Realtor.com said these markets should see plenty of activity in the next few months as homebuying season gets underway.

According to data, none of the housing markets in the nation’s largest 40 metros are in negative territory, and only six of them are even neutral. The healthiest housing markets in the nation are in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. Only two metros in the nation are in negative territory (Bismarck, North Dakota and Atlantic City, New Jersey), and even these are nearly in the neutral zone.