Posts Tagged ‘NAR’Housing Perspective: July Existing Home SalesEclipsing even the most optimistic expectations, July existing home sales registered a 2-year high this morning, jumping 7.2% from last month. According to Bloomberg, the National Association of Realtors (or NAR) reported that transactions climbed to a 5.24 million annualized pace, the highest rate since August of 2007. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, the man [...] Housing Perspective: June Existing Home SalesLies, damn lies and (NAR) statistics. Indeed. The National Association of Realtors (or NAR) released data today showing that sales of existing homes crept up in June, the 3rd consecutive up month. While sales were a touch lower than they were a year ago, the annualized, seasonally adjusted sale figure was up 3.6% from May. [...] Housing Perspective: May Pending Home SalesDespite markedly higher interest rates and problematic new appraisal guidelines, homebuyers are still stepping back into the market. The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that pending home sales, which measure new purchase contracts signed, rose in May for the fourth consecutive month. According to Bloomberg, the 0.1% gain from the prior month barely edged [...] Housing Perspective: May Existing Home SalesHome sales in May rose from April, the second straightly monthly increase. According to the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, purchases crept up 2.4% from the prior month, which was less than 3.0% analysis were expecting. Prices continued their decline, falling 17% from a year ago, dragged down by distressed sales. As readers of [...] Housing Perspective: April Pending Home SalesThe barrage of positive housing data continued yesterday as April Pending Home Sales — which measure contracts signed for new purchases — jumped 6.7% from a month ago. The index, which is viewed as a leading indicator for future sales, was also up 3.2% from this time last year, according to Bloomberg. Sales continued to [...] Housing Perspective: March Pending Home SalesThe National Association of Realtors, or NAR, released its Pending Home Sales Index today, which showed continued strength in broad housing market data. The report, which measures signed contracts — often viewed as a leading indicator for future sales — came in at 84.6, up from 82.0 last month and the 83.7 reading in March [...] The Five Questions You MUST Ask Your RealtorBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. As a growing number of economists, pundits and real-estate professionals assure us the housing market’s worst days are over, prospective home buyers need a trusted advocate to make sure they don’t end up on the wrong side of someone else’s trade. More often than not, that [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Beware The False Bottom in HousingBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Residential real estate is about to get very weird. In the coming months, housing-market data is likely to show price stabilization in many of the country’s hardest hit areas. Pundits, government officials and real-estate professionals will loudly proclaim the worst of our real estate woes are [...] Housing Perspective: February Pending Home SalesFollowing a pattern set with both existing home sales and new homes sales, pending home sales bounced in February, up 2.1% from the previous month. The National Association of Realtors’ released its monthly index that tracks the number of signed contracts, showing a gain to 82.1, from 80.4 in January. A reading under 100 indicates [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Housing Recovery? What Housing Recovery?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. This week, 2 data points led optimistic market-watchers to declare the bottom in the housing is nigh: Indeed, one widely read trader-writer proclaimed, “The oversupply of housing that so plagues the market at present will be a figment of our memory a few months hence.” The [...] Housing Perspective: January Pending Home SalesBreaking a trend of rising Pending Home Sales, the index of signed purchase contracts fell in January, down 7.7% from December, according to the National Association of Realtors (or NAR). The drop was more than twice as bad as economists’ expectations — and by “expectations” we mean wild stabs in the dark. Pending Home Sales, [...] Housing Perspective: January Existing Home SalesBy AUSTIN NELSON Nationwide home values continue to decline into the New Year. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released existing home sales data today for January, indicating an overall 3.1% decline in the median sales price of US homes from the previous month. This drop follows the same national trend we have been seeing [...] Housing Perspective: Home Prices Fall … AgainBy RYAN TAYLOR The National Association of Realtors announced yesterday that the median home price in the US fell by 12% from a year earlier. Not surprisingly, the fall in prices was driven by the ever increasing number of foreclosure sales which accounted for 45 percent of all transactions. The pressure on prices is only [...] Housing Perspective: December Pending Home SalesBy AUSTIN NELSON Data released by the NAR yesterday show that pending home sales increased at the national level by over 6% in December 2008. Analysts had been expecting the reading to be unchanged from the previous month. This index theoretically predicts home sale trends for the following month by looking at the number of [...] Housing Perspective: November Case-Shiller Home Price IndexBy ANDREW JEFFERY In contrast to the silver lining of higher-than-expected home sales tallied in yesterday’s release of Existing Home Sales, this morning’s Case-Shiller November Home Price Index registered the worst year-over-year performance on record. Property values in November 2008 tumbled 18.2% from the prior year and 2.2% from the previous month. As measured by [...] Housing Perspective: December Existing Home SalesBy AUSTIN NELSON The National Association of Realtors released figures on existing home sales for December, showing an “unexpected” rise in sales volume for the month. Across the US, data showed a 6.5% increase in volume month over month. The surprise increase was bittersweet however, as median home price declined almost 3% month over month [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: A Tale of Two MarketsBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Increasingly, US real estate is becoming a tale of 2 markets. In low-income neighborhoods, overbuilt suburbs, and other areas besieged by foreclosures, home sales are through the roof. Data released this week by MDA Dataquick, a real estate information service, show December 2008 sales in Southern California’s [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Buyers’ Market? BewareBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Is it a buyer’s market? Ask most real-estate professionals the above question, and the response will almost certainly be an emphatic “Yes!” After all, they quickly explain, inventory levels are at all-time highs, sellers are desperate to get out from under their rapidly depreciating homes, and [...] Housing Perspective: November Pending Home SalesBy ANDREW JEFFERY It should come as no surprise that with headlines screaming financial Armageddon and the stock market making new lows seemingly every day, last November wasn’t exactly a great month for the housing market. This morning, the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, released its Pending Home Sales Index, which measures signed contracts [...] Straight Up Statistics: The Magic of Seasonal AdjustmentsBy AUSTIN NELSON Have you ever wondered what the heck it means when you read that economic data is “seasonally adjusted?” How can non-seasonally adjusted data show one trend while seasonally adjusted data shows something completely different? Which dataset is the most reliable? The in-depth answer to these questions requires a PhD in statistical analysis. [...] Housing Perspective: October Pending Home SalesBy AUSTIN NELSON Nationwide pending home sales were down 0.7% in October, according to the National Association Of Realtors (NAR). Pending home sales are those under contract but not yet closed, and the index is viewed as a predictive measure of actual sales that will occur the following month. Month-over-month, seasonally adjusted data show the [...] Housing Perspective: October Existing Home SalesBy AUSTIN NELSON Existing home sales fell again in October, reversing gains seen in September. The National Association of Realtors, or NAR, released October existing home sales data today, which show decreases in units sold as well as median sale price across the country. The annual price decline was the worst on record, continuing the [...] Housing Perspective: September Pending Home SalesBy AUSTIN NELSON The National Association of Realtors (NAR) posted its monthly Pending Home Sales Index for September today, showing a pullback in the gains seen in last month’s report. The index, touted as “a leading indicator of housing activity,” is based on signed housing contracts. These contracts are not counted as sales but are [...] NAR At it Again: Spin ControlCirios Real Estate The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released monthly housing data today that shows existing-home sales in July increased by a seasonally adjusted 3.1%. While this number may seem exciting and could be interpreted as a thaw in the housing crisis, most other data point in the opposite direction. Deeper into the report, [...] |