Housing Market

Micro Housing Success Brings Problems
   Micro-housing developers came to the Affordable Housing Conference in Bethesda, MD this year to promote their wares and air some of the difficulties accompanying the growing boomlet. The tiny apartments, meant to be affordable, have less than 400 square feet of
posted 5/15/13 6:43 PM  read complete story

Property Dearth Threatens Recovery
   Increasing scarcity of ideally located finished lots for builders is increasing the potential of slowing the housing market recovery, as HAL has previously reported. Now, credit-rating agency Fitch Ratings confirms in a new survey that the shortage, coupled with the possibility of higher
posted 3/27/13 6:12 PM  read complete story

Home Prices Growing Rapidly
   Buoyed by strong increases in the Southwest, the housing market nationally continues to show substantial recovery. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for January was up 8.08% year-over-year, beating expectations for a 7.5% rise, the fastest rate since summer 2006.
posted 3/27/13 11:47 AM  read complete story

Fewer Sales As Existing Home Supply Ebbs
   Sales of existing homes dropped in December as the supply declined, but the 4.65 million existing homes sold in 2012 was the best year for sales since 2007, the National Association of Realtors says. Sales are still below the approximately 5.5 million that are consistent with a healthy market but the pace is another sign the market is making
posted 1/23/13 1:34 PM  read complete story

Chinese High-End Housing Investors
   Non-Americans accounted for $82 billion in home sales last year and more than $7 billion is attributed to Chinese investors who are now the second largest group of foreign homebuyers after Canadians. Statistics from the National Association of Realtors show foreign investment is helping the housing market resurgence.
posted 12/14/12 09:10 AM  read complete story

Short Sales Up On Law’s Imminent Demise
   Sales of homes with delinquent mortgages but not yet in foreclosure leaped 22% this year, mostly in anticipation of the expiration of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act Dec. 31. The bank bailout era law absolves homeowners involved in what are called short sales from paying income tax on the unpaid portion of the debt.
posted 12/7/12 12:07 PM  read complete story

Home Prices At Six-Year High
   Home prices post their largest annual increase in more than six years in October, further fueling signs that the housing market is on the road to recovery, real estate analyst CoreLogic says.
posted 12/4/12 5:19 PM  read complete story

Foreclosure Inventory Drops
   With 58,000 homes seized by lenders from troubled homeowners in October, the nation’s portfolio of foreclosures continues to plummet. Those completed foreclosures fell 17% from the 70,000 foreclosures reported a year earlier, adding impetus to the housing market recovery, housing market analyst CoreLogic says.
posted 12/4/12 5:17 PM  read complete story

Housing Market Sustains Surge
   Demand for housing rises to its highest level in more than two years during October, the National Association of Realtors says in its latest index tracking the number of buyers who signed purchase contracts for existing homes.
posted 11/30/12 11:27 AM  read complete story

Beige Book Spotlights Housing
   Local housing market conditions have been on a roll through 2012 and they continued to surge in the third quarter with the exceptions of Boston and Philadelphia, the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book shows.
posted 11/28/12 6:34 PM  read complete story