I saw the headline, “Fannie Mae: Despite It All, Americans Want to Buy, Not Rent,” and thought there might be some good news there. There was, but there was too much silliness to drown it out. The story come from a Fannie Mae press … [Read more...]
Home prices barely drop from August to September (this is unusual)
Not news: Redfin says that both home sales and home prices were up in September over last year. That’s not unexpected — the four percent sales jump and 5.4% price jump are signs of the ongoing recovery. What is unusual is that home prices … [Read more...]
Good numbers from existing-home-sales report
Two things of note from NAR’s August existing home sales report: First-time buyers make up about 31% of the market, and distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) only make up about 22%. (Note: Just in case it’s not clear, those … [Read more...]
Another view on the Case-Shiller price gain
Writing on Barry Ritholtz’s The Big Picture blog, real estate and mortgage researcher Mark Hanson has a different view of what a 0.5% rise in Case-Shiller’s quarterly report on home prices means. Background: That half-percent … [Read more...]
WSJ claims rising prices come from fewer distressed sales
In a Wall Street Journal piece, Nick Timiraos says he thinks rising real estate prices are a result of fewer distressed homes (short sales and foreclosures) on the market. Prices have risen this summer for a simple reason: more buyers have chased … [Read more...]
Case-Shiller reports home prices rise across the board
The June S&P/Case-Shiller home price index shows that home prices have risen nationwide — in every one of the 20 metro areas covered by the index. Nationwide it’s up a half percent. That’s not much, until you consider that this … [Read more...]