House Sales/Price Data
Home Price Declines Stabilizing: Report. “First American CoreLogic’s June 2008 LoanPerformance Home Price Index: As of June, nominal home prices declined 10.7% from a year ago. However, while nominal home price declines have stabilized in the 10-11% range for several months, a surge in inflation means real, or inflation-adjusted, home prices are still declining at an accelerating rate. CoreLogic expects 2.7 million preforeclosure and foreclosure filings in 2008, up nearly 50% from 2007. Between April-June, home price declines were flat, falling by an average of 10.8%, but real home price declines accelerated to 16.8% in June from 15.3% in April.” (Reuters, Aug. 18)
Buyers Responding to Lower Metro Prices. “National Association of Realtors: Existing-home sales rose from Q1 in 13 states, largely from buyers responding to discounted home prices. Nearly one-quarter of metropolitan areas showed rising home prices in Q2 from a year ago, with greatly mixed conditions continuing around the country. In Q2, 35 out of 150 metropolitan statistical areas showed gains in median existing single-family home prices from Q2’07, while 115 had price declines. NAR’s track of metro area home prices dates back to 1979.” (Originator Times, Aug. 18)
Home Sales Increase As Prices Tumble. “Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors: The 2,592 single-family Las Vegas home sales in July were 16% higher than June's sales and 97% more than in July 2007. That marks the seventh consecutive month home sales increased… The median price of single-family home fell 2.2% to $220,000 in July compared with June. That's more than 25% below the median price of homes sold in July 2007… More-affordable homes are doing better than other market segments: The average price of homes sold in July was 5.3% below those sold in June and nearly 33% below those sold in July 2007.” (In Business Las Vegas, Aug. 18)
Strong Rental Markets in a Weak Economy. “California is facing a housing slump and a surge in foreclosures. But [Salinas’] rental market is humming along thanks to its relatively affordable housing costs and proximity to Silicon Valley, where high-paying tech jobs are plentiful. Salinas metro area apartment rents increased 5.6% in Q3, compared with Q3’07, and the vacancy rate has fallen to 2.4%… Florida and Arizona metro areas [experienced] the biggest rent drops... as much as 9% in the worst Florida markets—Naples and Cape Coral—where vacancies have jumped to about 17%. Apartment landlords are offering two or more months of free rent in some cases to fill vacancies.” (BusinessWeek, Aug. 14)
Foreign Demand for U.S. Homes Levels Off. “A recent suggest of real estate agents finds that international demand for U.S. homes might actually be lower today than it was a year ago. The National Association of Realtors polled about 4,000 of its member agents across the country and found that 26.2% had at least one international client between May 2007 and May 2008. More than half of those clients bought a house, and foreign buyers represented an average of 16% of the respondents' sales during that period. NAR estimates that between 150,000 and 190,000 homes were sold to foreign nationals during this period.” (Builder Online, Aug. 12)
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