HomePrices posts
FeedPosted Jan 27th 2010 8:00AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Indices, Housing, Recession

Home prices fell yet again in November, losing 0.2% month-over-month (on a not seasonally adjusted basis), following a 0.1% drop in October.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller's home price index reported only five out of 20 metro areas with gains, and from November 2008 to November 2009, home prices are off 5.3%. Need a benchmark? It's late 2003: Six years of appreciation have been obliterated by the financial crisis.
The slide worries analysts who wonder if the housing recovery is strong enough to keep moving forward. A stall on the housing side, of course, could push through the rest of the economy, ultimately putting the squeeze on consumer spending (further) and impeding overall growth.
Continue reading Housing Market Slides, but Some Silver Lining Visible
Posted Nov 14th 2009 5:30PM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Economic Data, Housing
If you're worried about the value of your home, 2010 could bring a little bit of good news. The National Association of Realtors reported Friday that home prices could edge 4% higher next year. In 2009, home prices declined by 13%. The association's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, says, "Going into 2010, I anticipate that prices will also begin stabilizing or begin to modestly improve." He continues, "I don't think the fear factor will be at play in 2010."
First-time buyers taking advantage of a range of incentives -- including an $8,000 tax credit -- accounted for 47% of transactions this year, up from 41% in 2008. With the credit extended to April 30, 2010, there's hope that first-timers will continue to breathe some life into the real estate market. According to Yun, approximately 2 million people gobbled up the tax advantage.
Continue reading Home values could creep up next year
Posted Nov 10th 2009 2:20PM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Consumer Experience, Economic Data, Personal Finance, Housing, Recession

The housing market is still mired in price declines during the third quarter. Prices declined in 80% of metro areas.
Of the 153 metro areas surveyed, 123 still saw price declines, while 30 saw price increases. Overall, the national median price has fallen 11.2% from last year.
Let's look at specific towns and cities with the highest price declines and the highest price increases:
- Fort Myers, Florida tops the list with a 40% decline. Median home prices were $98,000.00
- Las Vegas, Nevada saw a 35% decline. Median home prices were $138,500.00
- On the up side, Cumberland Maryland saw a price increase of 19% Median home prices rose to $122,100.00
- Davenport, Iowa was next with a 14% increase. Median home prices were $115,600.00.
Continue reading Nationwide home prices fall in 123 of 153 metro areas
Posted Aug 17th 2009 4:30PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Good news, Market Matters, Money and Finance Today, Housing, Recession, Financial Crisis
Homebuilder confidence hit a 1 year high today, providing another sign that the worst of the housing melt down may have passed.
The housing market started to crumble back in 2006, and since that time foreclosures and falling home prices have hit the economy hard, and played a major role in the recession that has effected millions. Today the The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo confidence index climbed to 18, the highest level that it has been since June 2008.
Continue reading Homebuilder confidence hits 12 month high
Posted Jul 20th 2009 4:45PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, India, China, Brazil, Russia, Recession

At times, during this protracted global recession, it seems as if the entire world depended on home equity loan-fueled U.S. consumption to maintain GDP growth.
De-coupling -- the notion that the emerging market economies of China, India, Brazil and Russia were independent of the developed world, from a GDP growth standpoint, and were self-sustaining -- has been quickly dispelled. "De-coupling" has about as much validity as another ruse that made the rounds in the last boom (as it does in all expansions): the fallacy of
"this time it's different" – the notion that some economic phenomenon can continue indefinitely. During the last expansion there was a widely-held view that housing prices, despite numerous metrics that showed that housing prices had hit bubble levels, could rise at double-digit rates annually, for a decade or more.
Continue reading Engine of growth-wise, it's a whole new ballgame for the global economy
Posted Jun 16th 2009 6:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Forecasts, Good news, Market Matters, Money and Finance Today, Economic Data, Housing, Recession, Financial Crisis

It was the largest jump in three months, as new home construction
increased by 17.2% during the last month.
The increase was much higher than analysts had been expecting, and last month we moved up to an annual rate of 532,000 units... well above the 500,000 units that had been forecast.
Continue reading New home construction jumps in May
Posted May 18th 2009 5:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Employees, Money and Finance Today, Economic Data, Housing, Federal Reserve, Recession, Financial Crisis

As the housing market continues to find its footing, one welcome trend for potential home buyers has been falling home prices. The main consequence of the troubled housing market has been a sharp increase in home inventories, and this has led to a massive drop in home prices, and we see news today that home prices are the
most affordable that they have been in the past 18 years.
The Housing Opportunity Index tracks home prices, and it reported that during the first three months of this year, 72.5% of homes for sale fell within the affordability range, up from 60% during the last quarter of 2008. This sharp jump is another testament to just how quickly home prices have eroded over the past few months.
Continue reading Home prices become more affordable
Posted May 12th 2009 5:30PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Consumer Experience, Housing, Recession, Financial Crisis

As we all know, the housing market has been taking a beating over the past couple years. The global recession seemed to spark right out of the American housing market, and things have not really been improving too much. With all the homes that are unsold in the country, more and more homeowners have decided to
rent instead of sell their properties.
As the housing market began to come apart at the seams, home inventories started to swell, and prices started to drop. Everyone has been waiting anxiously to see a point where the lower prices would bring massive buyers back into the market, but that still has not happened yet, and instead of lowering prices even further, homeowners have decided to hold onto properties a little longer and pull in some rental income instead.
Continue reading More homeowners look to rent unsold properties
Posted Mar 26th 2009 5:20PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Products and Services, Competitive Strategy, KB HOME (KBH), Housing, Recession, Financial Crisis

We will see earnings from one of the major home builders in the morning, as
KB Home (NYSE:
KBH) gets its chance to impress Wall Street when it reports its first quarter numbers prior to the market open.
The company, which last year ranked the 5th largest home builder in the country, is expected to show a loss for the quarter of $0.81 per share. Should the company be able to match these estimates, it would be a great improvement over its fourth quarter loss of $3.96 per share. When looking back at the same period last year, KBH showed a loss of $3.47 per share for its first quarter last year.
Continue reading KB Home first quarter earnings preview
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