Tag Archives: National Association of Realtors

Responding to higher mortgage rates and higher prices, the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) slipped 1.3 percent in July--the steepest decline this year--to 109.5, the group reported Wednesday. Economists had expected the index for July would drop to 109.8, which would have been a 1.0 percent decline from June's 110.9. Despite the month-over-month decline, July's PHSI is up 6.7 percent over the same month last year.

While the national homeownership rate sat at a disappointing 65 percent as of the end of 2013's second quarter, data collected and published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows local market conditions have created a huge gap between state homeownership figures. In a blog for the association, Ken Fears, NAR's manager of regional economics and housing finance policy, notes that the dispersion ranges equally around the national average, with a gap of 22.4 percentage points between the top and bottom states.

Home prices rose in June to their highest levels in almost five years, increasing 2.2 percent, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday.

Vacancy rates in commercial real estate (CRE) markets are projected to continue declining at a moderate pace as rent grows modestly.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home sales dropped a stunning 13.4 percent to 394,000 in July. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to drop to 487,000 from June's originally reported 497,000. June sales were revised to 455,000. The report for July showed a slight shift to higher-priced homes as houses priced at $500,000 or more accounted for 11 percent of July sales, up from 9 percent in June. Homes priced at $300,000 or less represented 62 percent of all July sales, down from 64 percent in June.

Existing-home sales soared 6.5 percent in July to an annual sales rate of 5.39 million--the highest level since November 2009--as the price of a single-family home slipped 0.2 percent.

The National Association of Realtors announced a research partnership between Realtor University's Center for Real Estate Studies and the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA).

The national median home price showed its strongest year-over-year gain in more than seven years last quarter, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR's data shows the median price of an existing single-family home increased 12.2 percent year-over-year to $203,500--the largest improvement since Q4 2005. Prices were boosted by shrinking market share of lower-priced homes and distressed sales (which accounted for 17 percent of last quarter's sales).

Home prices rose to their highest levels in almost five years in May, increasing by a non-seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday. The 20-city index was up 12.2 percent from a year earlier, and the companion 10-city index was up 11.8 percent. For the month, the 10-city index rose 2.5 percent and the 20-city index was up 2.4 percent. The two surveys have improved month-over-month and year-over-year for 12 consecutive months.

Americans hold a more positive view of the housing market, while an increasing share of renters plan to own, according to the 2013 National Housing Pulse Survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Of those surveyed, 80 percent said they believe buying a home is a good financial decision, up by 8 points from 2011. Meanwhile, the percentage of those who say they prefer to rent over buying dropped 6 points since 2011 to 25 percent.