Market Updates

Here's your market update for the week of May 29, 2018.

Info That Hits Us Where We Live In home building, the overall upward trend remains, as April Housing Starts were 10.5% ahead of a year ago, at a 1.287 million annual rate. Single-family starts were up 0.1% for the month, though overall starts declined 3.7%. Single-family permits were up 0.9% in April, which bodes well for […]

Info That Hits Us Where We Live Americans’ confidence in the housing market reached an all-time high in April’s Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index. The share of Americans who say now is a good time to sell also hit a record high, so more listings should come to market. Rates have moved little, which Freddie […]

Info That Hits Us Where We Live Heading north for the second month in a row, Pending Home Sales posted a 0.4% gain in March. Tight inventories in many markets kept this measure of contracts signed on existing homes down from a year ago. Are homes really less affordable? The latest First American Real House […]

Info That Hits Us Where We Live The first good news was that Existing Home Sales rose 1.1% in March to a 5.60 million annual rate. Yeah, they were down a tick from March 2017, but that month had the second highest sales pace last year. Then, March New Home Sales also surprised to the upside, […]

Housing Starts were up 1.9% in March, at a 1.319 million annual rate. Yes, the gain was all from the volatile multi-family sector, but single-family starts are up 5.2% the past year and keep driving trend growth.

Fannie Mae's latest Home Purchase Sentiment Index reports more people say now is a good time to buy--and more also say now is a good time to sell. Happy Spring!

Info That Hits Us Where We Live Black Knight reports tappable equity hit $5.4 trillion in February, 10% higher than its 2005 all-time high. This is the amount a homeowner can borrow against before reaching an 80% loan-to-value ratio. First mortgage balances climbed to $8.8 billion, close to their pre-recession peak. But the report’s economist […]

Info That Hits Us Where We Live The spring buying season started off nicely, as Pending Home Sales reversed course and went up 3.1% in February. This measure of contracts on existing homes indicates more closed sales ahead. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) chief economist noted, “the expanding economy and healthy job market are […]

Info That Hits Us Where We Live After heading down two months in a row, Existing Home Sales flew back up in February, increasing 3.3%, to a 5.54 million annual rate. Demand remains strong: 46% of homes sold in less than a month. New Home Sales were flat in February, off just 0.6%, to a 618,000 […]