For years we’ve been watching the phenomenon of “Shadow Inventory” of potential homes that need to be sold, and looking for impact on the market. This set of underwater or distressed properties is now shrinking rapidly. The number of homes with underwater mortgages fell by nearly two million last year. According to the Fed, home price gains of 10% will be enough to move 40% of underwater borrowers back above water. These home sellers are highly likely to buy another home in the same or comparable market, off setting new supply with new demand.
Read More »Archive for the 'general info' Category
The logic is this: in 2012 US Housing Prices climbed between 5 and 12%, depending on which measure you choose. The Case-Shiller Index climbed 6.8% year over year at the end of 2012. Here in 1Q 2013, all the leading indicators are stronger than they were a year ago. (For those of you just tuning in, this is the third in a series of “home prices are stronger than you think” posts from me this winter.)
Read More »Home values in Cambridge, Arlington and Brookline have all shot past their peaks reached during the bubble years,
Read More »To shore up their dominance in the information and analytics sector, CoreLogic has shelled out $6M for Case-Shiller, one of the most respected real estate indicators in the sector.
Read More »The barometer summarizes three key housing market indicators — construction starts, existing home sales, and the delinquency-plus-foreclosure rate — looking at how current conditions compare to those recorded at the depths of the housing crisis and those recorded before the housing bubble.
Read More »Great news on the downtown Boston market. A repost of Jenifer’s article below: Downtown prices hit record median value of $537,000 By Jenifer B. McKim MAY 01, 2013Boston’s downtown condominium market thrived during the first three months of the year, with tight inventory helping to push the median price to a quarterly [...]
Read More »pringtime is for selling houses. The months of April, May, June and July typically account for more than 40% of all housing transactions annually, in large part thanks to weather.
Read More »Coming off a banner year in 2012, where year-end sales surpassed industry expectations, we wouldn’t have been surprised at a more “normal” first quarter of 2013. Real estate sales did slow as winter activity was moderated by weekly snowstorms more than by any changes in market fundamentals. Sales were more aligned to 2011 than to 2012.
Read More »The Big Number is 45%. Combined, all Boston neighborhoods saw a 45% decrease in inventory of condos for sale as of March 30 compared last year at this time. This decrease in inventory didn’t seem to effect sales as the average sale price went up 10% to $611K vs. $556K and the number of condo sales increased 3% to 644 units from 624. The median sales price increased 4% to $416K from $400K in 2012. On first glance this real estate market seems very healthy but a continuing decrease in inventory levels could create a problem going forward
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Will dwindling listings derail the real estate recovery?
At least for now, the answer is no.
The number of pending sales across the state jumped 4.6 percent in March compared to the same time last year, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reports.
In fact, the 4,308 homes put under agreement was the best showing since March 2005, at the height of the real estate bubble, when buyers laid claim to 4,404 homes.
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