Foreclosures dropped in July 2012 to 58,000 from 69,000 in July 2011 (and 62,000 in June 2012) according to CoreLogic. Half of all foreclosures were from five states: California, Florida, Michigan, Texas and Georgia. Homes tallied 1.3 million in some form of foreclosure (3.2 percent… Read more

A repeating question from people on housing statistics has been regarding recreation, seasonal or occasional use dwellings. Last fall, based on data from the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau published a 12-page summary looking at the current housing inventory by state and contrasting that with… Read more

While existing home sales were up in July, perhaps the story line should be focused on the shrinking inventory of homes available for sale, portending sustained price increases. Each month Realtor.org details listing information statistics from 146 markets. Just two of the 146 markets had… Read more

The housing recovery continues as July existing home sales  reported by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) were up 10.4 percent compared to July 2011, and up sequentially from June 2012 by 2.3 percent. The following graph shows the seasonally adjusted annualized rate, averaged over… Read more

CoreLogic, a premier provider of real estate and consumer related data, just released the latest info on U.S. housing markets from a default perspective. Another report from Freddie Mac adds to this, as well as an excellent summary by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Key… Read more

The big story in housing is actually two stories (which are related): Rising Listing Prices Shrinking Inventory Each month, The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) tracks assorted listing data in 146 markets nationwide. The two story trends noted above include:  More than 75 percent of… Read more

One of the definitions of the word phoenix is a renewal after a calamity, and that is so appropriate for the real estate markets and economy of Phoenix, Arizona. I had the opportunity to again make the annual journey and speak in Phoenix this week… Read more

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the U.S. is adding 2.8 million people each year (and that is predicated on an assumed low net-in migration scenario). New residential building permits have averaged less than 600,000 per year for the past 48 months. Admittedly, there was… Read more

This past week Allen Berryman (CFO) suggested that I look at housing sales with respect to unemployment rates.  Wow.  Almost a perfect inverse relationship.  The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was slightly greater than 0.80.  Jobs are everything.  Period.     Once again the data… Read more

Home affordability is a function of the cost of the home, monthly payments (mortgage payment, taxes and insurance), and the level of income at that locale.  The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo compiled a list of the 10 Cities With the Most… Read more