OfflineThe following is very revealing about the trends in the residential housing industry. The author is a noted journalist in news...Justin Hilley
"Pending home sales increased in March and are well above a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
NAR’s pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 4.1% to 101.4 in March from an upwardly revised 97.4 in February. It is 12.8% above March 2011 when it was 89.9. The data reflects contracts but not closings.
The index is now at the highest level since April 2010 when it reached 111.3.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said 2012 is expected to be a year of recovery for housing. “First-quarter sales closings were the highest first-quarter sales in five years. The latest contract signing activity suggests the second quarter will be equally good,” he said.
“The housing market has clearly turned the corner,” Yun added. “Rising sales are bringing down inventory and creating much more balanced conditions ... which means home prices will be rising in more areas as the year progresses.”
The index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20% of transactions for existing-home sales. An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year of examination "
Here is a great article that may indicate that the market may be at the bottom. From what i'm hearing, these numbers aren't stable yet. But following these kind of articles help me see what areas may be good hotspots for investments:
Home values in the United States have reached a bottom. The Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)[1] rose on an annual basis for the first time since 2007, increasing 0.2 percent year-over-year to $149,300, according to Zillow's second quarter Real Estate Market Reports[2]. Values have risen for four consecutive months.
Nearly one-third of metros, or 53 of the 167 covered by the Real Estate Market Reports, posted annual increases in home values. The largest increase came in Phoenix, where home values are up 12.1 percent from the second quarter of 2011 to the second quarter of 2012.
Looking ahead, two in five, or 67 of the 156 markets covered by the Zillow Home Value Forecast[3], are expected to see increases in home values over the next year, with the largest increases expected in the Phoenix metro (9.9 percent) and the Miami metro (6.1 percent). U.S. home values are expected to rise 1.1 percent.
"After four months with rising home values and increasingly positive forecast data, it seems clear that the country has hit a bottom in home values," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. "The housing recovery is holding together despite lower-than-expected job growth, indicating that it has some organic strength of its own.
http://zillow.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=159&item=293
I felt this article was worth reading, keeping our ears to the market helps us make better decisions
keep moving Forward!!
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I think that the real estate market nationwide overall is on a slow rebound, but we must keep in mind in some places will take years, if not decades, to recover. Other areas, like where I live and a lot of other places in Texas, were relatively unaffected by the real estate crisis as real estate is very local in nature.
The National Association of Realtor's Web site is a great source of information as are the individual state's associations of realtors like TexasRealtors.org .
Rick Allison, Realtor
Amarillo, Texas USA
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