Fannie: Housing to See 'Sustained Growth' | Realtor Magazine

The housing market is “on a sustained growth path,” according to the latest economic outlook by Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group.

"One of the key developments for the housing market last year was the general consensus that home prices, on a national basis, bottomed earlier in the year and continued to build momentum, exhibiting robust year-over-year gains unseen since the housing boom," according to the report.

Housing inventories are at the lowest since December 1994 and fewer distressed homes have helped to lift home prices, according to Fannie Mae economists.  

Among some of Fannie Mae economists projections for this year: 

  • Home prices: Fannie Mae economists predict that the median price of existing homes will increase 2.3 percent on an annual basis this year, reaching $181,000. The median price of a new home will likely increase 1.6 percent to $248,000. For 2014, economists predict that home prices will increase an extra 2.8 percent. 
  • Home sales: Existing-home sales will likely rise 11.5 percent in 2013, and new-home sales will rise 12.5 percent, economists predict. 
  • Mortgage rates: Rates will likely edge up slightly this year with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages projected to average 3.8 percent this year and rise to 4.4 percent in 2014. 

Source: “Fannie Mae: Housing Is 'on a Sustained Growth Path',” Inman News (Feb. 21, 2013)

Read More

Fannie: Housing Shows Signs of 'Durable, Long-Term Recovery'

The recent real estate news is mostly good. It has been good for several months now. It certainly is refreshing after several years of bad news!

NAR Report: Home Prices Rising in More Markets - Developments - WSJ

By Robbie Whelan

Getty Images
See a chart of home prices by metro. 

The recovery in real-estate values is accelerating, as more and more markets post gains in median home sale prices.

The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that the U.S. median home price rose 10% to $178,900 between the fourth quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2012. That’s the biggest yearly gain in the median price since the fourth quarter of 2005.

Of the 152 metro areas examined by the NAR, 133 posted yearly gains in median home price, while prices fell in 19 markets. In the third quarter of 2012, 120 markets showed yearly gains, while a year ago, in the fourth quarter of 2011, just 29 markets nationwide had posted annual median price gains.

“Home sales are on a sustained uptrend,” said Lawrence Yun, the trade group’s chief economist. “Home sales are being fueled by a pent-up demand and job creation, along with still favorable affordability conditions and rents rising at faster rates. Our population has been growing faster than overall housing stock, so supply and demand dynamics are very much at play.”

Housing markets in Western states and markets that were coming off of a low bottom after steep home price declines saw the biggest gains. Phoenix, which fits both of those descriptions, led the gainers, with prices rising 33.9%, followed by Detroit (31.3%), San Francisco (28.3%), Cape Coral, Fla. (25.8%) and San Jose (24.8%).

Of the handful of markets where prices still falling, the upstate New York town of Kingston was the worst (-7.9%), followed by Kankakee, Ill. (-7.0%), Erie, Penn. (-6.1%), Binghamton, N.Y., (-5.7%) and Rockford, Ill. (-4.8%).

Overall, median prices in the West region rose the most–by 20.1%–followed by the Midwest (9.2%), the South (9.1%) and the Northeast (0.7%).

Yes home prices are going up!

Where Did All the Homes For Sale Go? - Top Agent Network

Media_httpwwwtopagent_hwhop

Thank you David Faudman for posting this. It is so very very true. I am begging my sellers to list their properties NOW and not wait. The following is more of what David wrote in his blog for those of us that are top agents.

Source: Redfin (TAN current and coming-soon chapters in pink)

Some Top Agent Network members tell us they have never seen so many anxious and disappointed buyers looking for houses. One agent mentioned a listing that received 20 offers with 19 of those offers being ALL CASH!

So why is inventory so low and why aren’t more owners selling in this hot market? The top agents we spoke with cite these reasons:

All cash investors are scooping up lots of properties.
Owners are reluctant to formally list their property for fear they won’t find a suitable replacement home.
Some owners are still waiting for prices to return to 2006-2008 levels before they will put their home on the MLS for sale.
All the agents we spoke with said they have listings in the queue for release this spring. That should improve the demand-supply imbalance and temper the market a bit. If I were an active real estate agent I would advise my sellers to jump on this hot seller’s market before it cools. They can even be a little greedy on price.

Trulia Identifies State-by-State Seasonal Real Estate Search Peaks and Valleys

Bucking Typical Springtime Real Estate Season, Online Home Searches Highest in February in Florida and in August in Montana and Oregon

San Francisco, CA (BUSINESS WIRE) Trulia (NYSE: TRLA) today published the findings from the Trulia Real Estate Search Report, which tracks and analyzes the online search behavior of U.S. house hunters. Based on all home searches on Trulia from 2007 to 2012, this study provides the inside scoop on the seasonal peaks and valleys in real estate search activity across all 50 states. To see the seasonal pattern, we used a seasonal adjustment model to strip out the upward trend in our search traffic, to reveal whether a state’s search activity in each month is above or below the annual average for that state.

Online House Hunting Hot in March and April, Cold in December

After the holidays, prospective homebuyers and renters typically begin or renew their home search at the start of a new year. At the national level, online real estate search activity picks up in January and reaches its peak in March and April, after stripping out the upward trend from Trulia’s traffic growth over time. Following a slight dip in May, a second peak occurs during the summer months of June and July. As the year ends, home searches slow down, hitting their lowest level in December.

Home Searches in Hawaii, Florida, Montana and Oregon Peak Off-Season

While most online home searches happening at the state level correspond with typical seasonal patterns, local markets follow their own rhythms. For example, in January, search activity in Hawaii and Florida is more than 10 percent above each state’s annual average, but almost 10 percent below the annual average in Maine. Meanwhile, summer is when searches peak in the South, and a few states in the Northwest and Northeast. The last two states to peak are Montana and Oregon in August. By October, every state is below its annual average of search activity, and in December, every state is 10 percent or more below its annual average.

Pre-Approved Quotes

  • “Home-search activity swings with the seasons in every state. Buyers and sellers can use these ups and downs to their advantage,” says Jed Kolko, Trulia’s Chief Economist. “Sellers looking for the most buyers should list when real estate search traffic peaks. Buyers, however, should think about searching off-season, when there is less competition from other searchers.”
  • “Local weather patterns have a big impact on when people search for homes online. If it’s too cold or wet to check out open houses, people search less online,” says Jed Kolko, Trulia’s Chief Economist. “Search activity in warm-winter states, like Florida and Hawaii, peaks in January and February. But for most of the country, search traffic is highest in March or April, especially in regions where summer brings rain. In general, people search more online when it’s warm and dry outside.”

Multimedia

  • To view the full Real Estate Search Study, click here.
  • To view an interactive U.S. map illustrating the peaks and valleys of online real estate searches across the country, click here.

About Trulia, Inc.

Trulia (NYSE: TRLA) gives home buyers, sellers, owners and renters the inside scoop on properties, places and real estate professionals. Trulia has unique info on the areas people want to live that can’t be found anywhere else: users can learn about agents, neighborhoods, schools, crime, commute times and even ask the local community questions. Real estate professionals use Trulia to connect with millions of transaction-ready buyers and sellers each month via our hyper local advertising services, social recommendations, and top-rated mobile real estate apps. Trulia is headquartered in downtown San Francisco. Trulia is a registered trademark of Trulia, Inc.

Contacts

Daisy Kong
(415) 400-7391
pr@trulia.com

Tagged as: real estate, Search, seasonal, state, trulia

This is great information for us to share with our home sellers!

Trulia providing continuous listings updates | Inman News

Trulia providing continuous listings updates

Portal now recalibrates MLS-sourced data every 10 minutes

By Inman News, Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

Inman News®

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=107377949" target="_blank">Stopwatch</a> image via Shutterstock." width="225" />Stopwatch image via Shutterstock.

In an effort to provide consumers with the most current information, Trulia is now updating the listing data it receives directly from multiple listing services (MLS) on a continuous basis, the company said today.

In 2012, Trulia began updating its direct MLS-sourced data four times per day, after moving to once-a-day updates in late 2011. Now, Trulia checks in with the MLSs it gets direct feeds from every 10 minutes, and updates listings on its site accordingly.

Large MLSs providing Trulia with direct feeds include the Houston Association of Realtors, Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED), Boston area MLS Property Information Service Inc., Bay Area Real Estate Information Services Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Connecticut MLS.

"Our new data processing framework is far mor efficient and reliable, allowing us to update more feeds and more listings on a continuous basis throughout the day," said Alon Chaver, vice president of industry services at Trulia, in a statement.

"It is an obvious advantage to consumers and to our listing brokers to display only the most current information in Internet advertising," said Russ Bergeron, CEO of MRED, in a statement. "These changes help the real estate practitioner throughout our Chicagoland market to more effectively market their properties and ensure consumers receive the most up-to-date information while searching for their new home."

Data accuracy and timeliness -- like price and for-sale status -- have been a headache for third-party portals like Trulia and Zillow. Unlike Realtor.com, which thanks to its ties to the National Association of Realtors gets listings directly from most of the nation's MLSs, third-party portals rely on data from a variety of sources, including MLSs, brokers, agents and listing "syndicators" like ListHub and Point2.

Article continues below

Trulia CEO Pete Flint told the audience at Real Estate Connect New York City this month that the company's focus on data accuracy is "intense."

In 2011, Trulia launched the Trulia Direct Reference program, in which MLS data takes precedence over other sources when discrepancies are found.

Increasingly, Trulia and Zillow are looking for ways to secure access to accurate data directly from MLSs and brokerages and to sidestep their reliance on getting listings via ListHub and Point2. Those companies have recently tightened their data licensing agreements, restricting how the data can be used, challenging the listing portals' business models.

In 2012, both Trulia and Zillow launched programs where, in exchange for enhanced listing presence, brokerages provided a direct feed of their listings to the portals.

Last July, Zillow made a play for direct data feeds from 50 of the 200 MLSs that Zillow was receiving data from via ListHub, which is owned by Realtor.com operator Move Inc.

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Trulia has certainly come a long way over the past few years. Updating their site every 10 minutes. That is great.