Despite slow sales and paralyzing storms in much of the nation, February year over year prices rose to 12.2 percent, an increase of two points over January and monthly prices rose 0.8 percent, CoreLogic reported today. Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, rose 12.2 percent in February 2014 compared to February 2013, the 24th month of consecutive year-over-year increases in … Read More »

The salad days of low price tier home sales (homes selling for $95,000 and less) that fueled the recovery over the last two years are ending and with them, the legions of investors that have led the nation’s housing recovery. “The Investors Did Their Job,” headlines Clear Capital’s latest market report.  “Can traditional home buyers take it from here?” Deeply … Read More »

Once solely the province of high end and celebrity markets like the San Francisco Bay area, Beverly Hills and Malibu, pocket listings now are increasingly popular in lower brow parts of the Chicago market, according to local RE/MAX broker/owners. The broker/owners of RE/MAX offices in Chicago, Buffalo Grove, Rockford and Belvidere, Ill. report an upswing in requests from clients for … Read More »

It’s hard to build, buy or sell a home in when ice coats the drive and below freezing winds discourage roof inspections.  There’s no doubt this year’s endless winter have curbed construction and sales.  However, sagging sales are not just a function of the nasty weather that will melt away with the first warm days. If that were the case, … Read More »

It’s official!  All but four percent of the nation’s counties are better off today than they were during the foreclosure floods of four years ago, but only 8 percent of county housing markets are better off than they were eight years ago in 2006 before the housing price bubble burst, according to a new analysis by RealtyTrac. The analysis also … Read More »

Lower than normal sales for this time of the year due in part to the winter’s storms are raising concerns about the recovery and lowering lenders’ expectations for 2014 originations.  But they may also be having a beneficial side effect.  Fewer sales are taking some of the pressure off of low inventories that are in the process of rebuilding for … Read More »

Flat prices at the end of the year brought to a halt the steady progress that has been made since 2009 to free homeowners from the grips of negative equity.  As a result, some 6.5 million properties are still frozen in place and their owners vulnerable to foreclosure. Some 4 million homes returned to positive equity in 2013, bringing the … Read More »

Prices in January reached an increase of 12 percent year over year up 0.9 percent over December, despite the record winter weather. Prices will rise again in February, according to Corelogic’s Pending HPI.At the state level, including distressed sales, Louisiana, Nebraska and Texas surpassed their previous home price peaks in January 2014. In all, 22 states and the District of … Read More »

  Inventories continue to linger below seasonal norms, raising the prospect that low supplies of homes for sale will again plague housing markets next spring, inflating prices, reducing choices for buyers and depressing sales. January reports from both Realtor.com and existing homes series from the National Association of Realtors show that sales are down to record lows and inventory shortages … Read More »

A panel of 110 housing economists  has raised its forecast slightly for home price increases in 2014.  The experts expect price increases to slow in 2015 and return to normal levels of appreciation by 2018. The latest quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey of economists and housing experts raised its forecast for price increases this year from 4.3 to 4.5 … Read More »