Posts Tagged ‘U.S. Housing Market’
The Incredible Shrinking House
Posted by tblefko on April 25, 2010
Posted in Buyers, Construction, Consumers, Harrisburg, Market Conditions, Sellers | Tagged: Amy Hoak, Builder's Show, Buyers, MarketWatch, National Association of Home Builders, Real estate, Sellers, Statistics, U.S. Housing Market, Video | Leave a Comment »
A Primer for the Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension
Posted by tblefko on November 6, 2009
The Lancaster County Association of REALTORS® Government Affairs Department, headed up by Frank Christoffel, IV, passed this Q&A along regarding the latest information on the potential extension of the homebuyer tax credit which includes an existing homebuyer credit that was not part of the first bill.
The House of Representatives passed the extension yesterday by a vote of 403-12 after passing the Senate the previous night 98-0. The new provisions will take effect as soon as President Obama signs the bill.
Here are some of the specifics regarding eligibility requirements:
1. Existing homeowner credit: Must the new house cost more than the old house?
No. Thus, for example, individuals who move from a high cost area to a lower cost area who meet all eligibility requirements will qualify for the $6500 credit.
2. I am an existing homeowner. On October 25, 2009, I signed a contract to purchase a new home. I have lived in my current home for more than 5 consecutive years and am within the new income limits. I will go to settlement on November 20. If President Obama has signed the bill by the time I go to settlement, will I qualify for the new $6500 tax credit?
Yes. The existing homeowner credit goes into effect for purchases after the date of enactment (when the bill is signed). There is no reference to the date of contract for the new credit. The provision looks solely to the date of purchase, which is generally the date of settlement.
Posted in Agents, Buyers, Consumers, Financing, Legislation, Sellers | Tagged: Agents, Barack Obama, Buyers, FAQ, Financing, Lancaster County Association of REALTORS, National Association of REALTORS, Obama, Sellers, Tax credit, U.S. Housing Market, United States Senate | 2 Comments »
Home Prices Continue to Strengthen Nationwide
Posted by tblefko on September 29, 2009
Another month – another positive sign! The Standard & Poor‘s/Case-Shiller home price index rose 1.2 percent from June to August which reflects a positive trend for the third month in a row.
Before we all go off the deep end and declare “happy days are here again”, we should probably temper our enthusiasm just a bit. David M. Blitzer, the committee chairman for the Case-Shiller index said, “We do need to be cautious in coming months to assess whether the housing market will weather the expiration of the federal first-time buyer’s tax credit in November, anticipated higher unemployment rates and a possible increase in foreclosures.”
Stay tuned – - -
Related articles of interest:
- A Look at Case-Shiller, by Metro Area (September Update) (blogs.wsj.com)
- Home prices gain for 3rd straight month (money.cnn.com)
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Posted in Agents, Buyers, Consumers, Market Conditions, Sellers | Tagged: Business, Buyers, Case-Shiller index, David M. Blitzer, Media, Property Values, Real estate, Reports, S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, Sellers, Standard & Poor, Statistics, Tax credit, U.S. Housing Market, Unemployment, Video | Leave a Comment »
Peering Through the Fog
Posted by tblefko on September 10, 2009
There are more and more positive signs that the fog is starting to clear in the residential real estate market. Gone are the dense, pea-soup like conditions from a couple of months ago that caused buyers and sellers to try and drive through it at 5 mph. It appears that they’ve put their collective feet on the accelerator and are now driving more confidently, albeit still with the headlights on.
Point2 Technologies, Inc., the largest independent provider of website and listing syndication solutions for the real estate industry, with users in over 100 countries on its platform, released its Real Estate Confidence Index (RECI) for August 2009 this past week. Over 3,000 real estate professionals covering every U.S. State, Puerto Rico and Guam contributed to this month’s report. Charts of their findings are shown below:
Posted in Agents, Buyers, Consumers, Market Conditions, Sellers | Tagged: Buyers, Sellers, Statistics, Reports, Web Sites, Charts, Agents, U.S. Housing Market, Real estate, Saul Klein, Point2 Technologies, Real Estate Confidence Index (RECI) | Leave a Comment »
Rising Home Prices – Really?
Posted by tblefko on July 28, 2009
Image courtesy of Flickr
Like it or not, one of the most pessimistic (some would argue realistic) housing economists of our generation, Robert Shiller, will probably always be associated with the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression. He was one of the first outspoken people to warn us of an impending ’housing bubble’ as far back as 2003. At that time, most economists scoffed at his assertions and at his newly created S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. He was like that single, stray cloud that blocked your personal sun on the beach on an otherwise beautiful day. Annoying, but if you waited long enough, it would pass and the sun would return. One small problem - Shiller’s cloud grew into a full-fledged thunderstorm that very few people saw coming.
His S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index has been quoted far and wide as the definitive read on the housing market. For months, it hasn’t been a rosy picture, but today that sun returned to the beach. For the first time in three years, his index showed an increase in nationwide housing prices of .5% for the month of May.
Posted in Market Conditions | Tagged: Great Depression, Karl Case, National Association of REALTORS, Property Values, Reports, Robert Shiller, S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Statistics, U.S. Housing Market, United States Department of Commerce | Leave a Comment »
Tryin’ to Understand the Economic Crisis
Posted by tblefko on July 27, 2009
Everyone and their brother has an opinion or theory on how the country got into this economic situation. Some people blame Wall Street, the financial institutions and banks; other people take direct aim at REALTORS®, builders and mortgage companies; still others impugn the American consumer and their fixation with obtaining easy money with no strings attached.
I found this short video enlightening, insightful and explains the economic predicament about as well as any that I have read, heard or seen.
Related articles of interest:
- The lesson from CIT for future financial rescues (blogs.ft.com)
- The Looters(andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
- Obama’s financial industry reform: business as usual (isiria.wordpress.com)
- FASB Poised to Give Firms Leeway in Valuing Assets(abcnews.go.com)
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Posted in Financing, Legislation, Market Conditions | Tagged: Bailout, Financial institution, Foreclosures, Media, Obama, Property Values, Regulators, Statistics, Stimulus Package, Stocks, U.S. Housing Market, Video, Wall Street | Leave a Comment »
Existing Home Sales Rise – Again
Posted by tblefko on July 26, 2009
Image via Wikipedia
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) reported on Thursday of this past week that existing home sales for the month of June increased for the third month in a row fueling speculation that the housing downturn is starting to reverse direction. Excerpts of NAR’s press release¹ follow:
Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – increased 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units in June from a downwardly revised pace of 4.72 million in May, but are 0.2 percent lower than the 4.90 million-unit level in June 2008.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is hopeful about the gain. “The increase in existing-home sales occurred in all major regions of the country,” he said. “We expect a gradual uptrend in sales to continue due to tax credit incentives and historically high affordability conditions . . . “
Much of the fuel for the fire of homes sales has occurred in the first-time homebuyer market which has accounted for 29 percent of transactions according to an NAR survey of its practitioners. With the $8,000 tax credit deadline of December 1, 2009 (4½ months away) fast approaching, it will be interesting to see if this segment continues to stoke sales numbers.
Posted in Lancaster, Market Conditions | Tagged: Lancaster County, Lawrence Yun, National Association of REALTORS, Reports, Statistics, U.S. Housing Market | Leave a Comment »
Lancaster’s Real Estate Market Improves
Posted by tblefko on July 10, 2009
The gap between the 2008 and 2009 real estate markets in Lancaster County is down to a razor’s edge. On Wednesday of this week, the front page of the Intelligencer Journal ran the following story:
Market Here For Housing Gets Better ¹Numbers for pending home sales improve
The housing market in Lancaster County continued to rebound in May, creeping ever closer to 2008′s level, local Realtors reported Tuesday.
The number of pending home sales here was down only 2.5 percent from the May 2008 figure, the smallest gap so far this year, according to the Lancaster County Association of Realtors.
Posted in Lancaster, Market Conditions | Tagged: Agents, Buyers, Financing, Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster County, Lancaster County Association of REALTORS, Mortgage, National Association of REALTORS, Newspapers, Property Values, Statistics, U.S. Housing Market | Leave a Comment »
