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March 11, 2013
Sales of new single-family homes were up 28.9 percent from a year ago in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report. That’s the best January since 2008 and there is potential for significantly higher increases.
A growing number of home builders, but not the majority, are expected to forget that Realtors brought home buyers to the dance.
Studies by the National Association of Realtors say that 63 percent of all new More...
Mortgage applications increased 14.8 percent for the week ending March 1, 2013 from a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly survey.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 14.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 15 percent from the previous week and was at its highest level since mid-January.
The refinance share of mortgage More...
February 18, 2013
Real estate sales in Colorado’s high country reached their highest levels since 2008 in six resort counties. Sales in the last six months of 2012 ranked as one of the strongest since 2007.
Sales in Pitkin County, home to the high-priced Aspen resort, totaled $270 million in December, up 116 percent over December 2011. Most deals were done in cash, with some high country brokers believing the surge was fueled by uncertainty over tax changes planned for 2013.
In More...
February 6, 2013
Baby Boomers, the generation that defined so much of American culture, are beginning to discover that college towns offer some very good, and low cost, places to retire. Who needs Florida and Arizona?
College towns have become a viable retirement alternative for many boomers who don’t really need the warm weather in traditional retirement states. Even ski villages are attracting active retirees who love to ski.
While most people will retire in the homes they have More...
January 30, 2013
Home builders in the U.S. broke ground on more homes than forecast in December, capping the best year for the industry since 2008, which is another good sign that the economy is rebounding.
Housing starts climbed 12.1 percent in December to a 954,000 annual rate, exceeding forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists and the most since June 2008, according to the Commerce Department. For the whole of 2012, construction started on a total of 780,000 new homes, up from 608,800 in More...
Freddie Mac recently released its U.S. Economic and Housing Market outlook for January, showing that despite the fiscal uncertainties facing the country, consumer confidence has remained fairly resilient in recovering from the recession’s lows, buoyed by improving labor and housing market news.
Some highlights: December registered 155,000 job gains and November’s payrolls were revised up 24,000, bringing the employment increase for 2012 to 1.86 million, the best since More...
December 17, 2012
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently reported that housing markets showing signs of improvement have surged by 76 to a total of 201 metros in December. The NAHB/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) shows that the number on the list by at least one metro increased from 38 in November to 44 in December.
The index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at More...
December 14, 2012
The housing market continues to recover with home prices rising and pending sales and construction on the upswing. The number of inventory homes is dropping as well, but will it last?
If the upswing continues, it will most likely be investors rather than consumers who will sustain the momentum, according to a recent web post by CBS News.
According to the recent Fiserv Case-Shiller data, the real estate market during the spring and summer this year was the strongest since the More...
November 28, 2012
Construction of new homes increased to a four-year high in October, which bodes well for the revival of the industry that’s vital to the recovery of the U.S. economy.
Housing starts rose 3.6 percent to an 894,000 annual rate, the fastest since July 2008 and exceeding nearly all estimates. The median forecast of 82 economists called for an 840,000 pace. Permits for the construction of single-family homes also advanced to the highest in four years.
Record-low More...
November 26, 2012
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently completed its annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers survey for 2012. The information is based on a 120-question survey mailed to a random sample of people who purchased a home between July 2011 and June 2012.
In 2012, first-time buyers constituted 39 percent of the market, which was still below the 50 percent market in 2010 when the federal homebuyer tax credit was in place.
The home search process section of the More...
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