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Home prices rose 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis in March, according to new numbers from the S&P/Case-Shiller index. But four cities showed worse results in March than they had in February, with Atlanta notably down 0.4% over the previous month and Detroit down 2.1%. Still, there are reasons to be optimistic.
April housing numbers released by the National Association of Realtors were, wait for it … good. Spring is traditionally a busy season for home sales, but the real estate market has been in such a slump for the past couple of years that “ordinary” good news comes as something of a surprise.
The real estate recovery is just around the corner. Well, that’s if you believe the new housing numbers out this week.
According to data released today by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, prices in February were up 0.4% compared to a year ago, marking a pronounced turn in the market. The numbers would seem positive if it weren’t for the fact that the S&P/Case-Shiller index, the other major housing price report, came out an hour before and was lousy.
Foreclosure filings fell in March to their lowest level in four years, but a closer look at the data reveals a complicated housing market, one that is still likely to get worse before genuine, long-lasting improvements take place.
If you’re thinking that you can’t get ahead, you’re right. Rents, according to a Reuters story quoting Reis Inc., a firm that tracks real estate data, just posted their biggest jump in four years.
It’s now officially a lost decade for home prices. With the release of the January data for the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes, prices in a national composite dropped 3.8% from a year before, rolling back to the levels of early 2003.
Normally, housing markets are seasonal: they heat up in the spring — as nice weather encourages consumers to go outside and shop — and summer, as families try to get their kids settled before the school year. But this year, has spring already sprung?
The $25 billion foreclosure abuse settlement announced last month targets one group very specifically: members of the armed forces.
After the Great Recession, there were some pundits who theorized that real estate would make a W-shaped recovery. With the S&P/Case-Shiller housing prices out this morning, it’s now clear that there are not one but two W’s in the chart — and that’s not a good thing. Index prices fell 1.1% from November to December. In other words, we’ve [...]
If you’re watching the real estate markets, the good news is that the Federal Reserve has pledged to keep interest rates low through 2014. The bad news is that the market is going to need it. The November Case-Shiller housing numbers, released this morning, indicate that prices tumbled 3.7% from the year before. That’s below expectations of [...]
