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Another sign of a housing market recovery : The longer you wait to buy a home, the fewer homes there are from which to choose. Home buying stays strong -- now 4 months running,
First-Time Home Buyers have found out. You don't need a 20% downpayment to purchase a home. There are ample low-downpayment mortgage products available today.
Despite a 33% contract failure rate and a 4-year low in housing stock, home resales *still* reached a 10-month high. Lured by low mortgage rates and low home prices, buyers are back.
Maybe low rates matter after all. After months of near-4 percent mortgage rates, a bevy of housing data all points to the same conclusion -- the housing market recovery is underway.
In October 2012, despite sparse home inventory, the number of properties sold increased still managed to increase 1.4% nationwide. If home prices really do change with Supply and Demand, 2012 should keep home sellers happy.
Forget the "weak market" talk. Home resales improve across all price points nationwide -- even for luxury homes. The jumbo market is thriving.
Jumbo home buyers save 27% on their monthly mortgage payment as compared to 2 years ago. It's no wonder the jumbo housing market is thriving. Not only are home prices down, but so are home payments.
Existing Home Sales fell to 4.67 million units on a seasonally-adjusted annualized basis last month. It's the fourth straight month below the 5 million mark and the report's lowest reading since November 2010.
Buying a home? The time may be right to be choosy. There are good deals to be found if you're willing to look.
May's Pending Home Sales Index rose sharply and unexpectedly. As a result, we should expect a similar jump in June's Existing Home Sales numbers.
Inexpensive homes are trés popular these days, but can you guess which class of homes is outselling the others?
Foreclosure counts have dropped over 16 consecutive months, dating back to January 2010. And they sell at 20% discounts to "regular homes".
Hurt by foul weather and a soft market, the Pending Home Sales Index plunged 12 percent in April. Buyers can expect a terrific summer market.
At the current sales pace, it would take 9.2 months to exhaust today's home inventory. It's almost 1 month worse than March, and the worst reading of the year.
40 percent of March home resales were "distressed properties". Distressed homes include foreclosures, short sales, and REO and typically sell at discounts "in the vicinity" of 20 percent.
All that talk about the federal home buyer tax credit "pulling sales forward" can be put to rest. Housing re-found its balance. Sales volume is surging.
In contrast to early-2010, luxury home sales now lead the housing market forward.
Mortgage rates have been stupid-low lately, sparking the start of a Refi Boom. Here's a 96-second video in which I cover low rates, rate locks, and home sales.
I gave a 2-part interview with Beejal Patel of First Business television. This is the first part. We talk about the economy, home sales and mortgage rates.
The last two years have been rough on housing in a chain reaction-kind of way.First, mortgage guidelines tightened, preventing some homeowners from ditching onerous ARM products. That sparked a foreclosure boom that led to large losses on Wall Street. In turn, it sank the U.S. economy.Today, as compared to 3 years ago, foreclosures are way up, home values are way down, and mortgage rates are as low as they've ever been. It's wonderful news for home buyers -- there's a plentiful supply of homes and financing is cheap. Home affordability is near all-time highs.But the market is changing.
