Selected Real Estate News Headlines

The following are selected headlines that are indicative of changes and activity in the real estate market at the national, state and local level. They are posted here as reminders because they may influence your thinking as you make decisions on whether to buy or sell real estate in the short or medium term.

• MarketWatch 9/21/11: Sales of existing homes climbed 7.7% to a five-month high in August, as previously delayed deals closed, prices fell and rents rose, according to data released Wednesday. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million, up from 4.67 million in July and above the 4.8 million that economists polled by MarketWatch had anticipated.

• Bloomberg 9/20/11: Builders began work on fewer homes than forecast in August, showing an industry that’s languishing more than two years into the U.S. economic recovery.
  Housing starts dropped 5 percent to a three-month low 571,000 annual rate, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey called for a 590,000 pace. Construction slumped in the Northeast during August, when Hurricane Irene battered the region. Building permits, a proxy for future construction, unexpectedly climbed. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-20/housing-starts-in-u-s-decrease-more-than-estimated-to-571-000-annual-rate.html

• WSJ, 08/17/11:  Home prices in some of the nation's hardest-hit metro areas have fallen far below pre-bubble levels, stirring concerns that properties in those markets are undervalued. In a recent analysis, real-estate firm Zillow Inc. studied the correlation between home prices and annual incomes over the 15-year period that ended in 2000, before home prices began to surge. For decades, price-to-income levels have moved in tandem, with a specific housing market's prices rising or falling in line with local residents' incomes. Many economists say that makes the price-to-income ratio a good gauge for determining whether housing is undervalued or overvalued for a given market. Zillow found property prices in one-third of nearly 130 housing markets across the nation were undervalued, when compared with residents' current income and the pre-bubble trend.

• The Commercial Record 8/11/11: The median existing single-family home price in the Northeast rose 2 percent to $245,600 in the second quarter from a year ago, according to the latest quarterly report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

• The Commercial Record 8/9/11: Home Values Sink Nationwide Home values across the country fell 6.2 percent year-over-year to $171,600, according to Zillow's second quarter Real Estate Market Reports.

• Wall Street Journal, 08/05/11: U.S. mortgage rates dropped to new lows after the latest round of gloomy economic data hurt Treasury yields, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of mortgage rates.  Mortgage rates tend to follow Treasury yields, which have fallen after data showed the U.S. economy grew a much weaker-than-expected 1.3% in the second quarter while first-quarter growth was cut to less than a quarter of what was originally reported.

  Wall Street Journal 08/02/11: The number of homes listed for sale declined sharply in a number of U.S. cities during the second quarter, offering glimmers of hope that some housing markets are starting to recover.  At the end of June, nearly 2.34 million homes were listed for sale on multiple-listing services in more than 900 metro areas, the lowest level for that time of year since at least 2007, according to Realtor.com. In some cases, inventory levels are at their lowest levels since the housing downturn began five years ago.  Shrinking inventory often is seen as a positive sign for housing because it usually means demand is rising, which often leads to higher prices. But in the current environment, the decline in inventory may instead reflect how the market remains anything but healthy. While sales are picking up in some cities, analysts say the sharp decline in inventory also reflects the slow pace at which banks are processing foreclosures.

• MarketWatch 07/20/11 — Sales of existing homes slipped in June to a seven-month low, and a realty trade group attributed the surprise downturn to a weak economy and a spike in cancellations.  The National Association of Realtors reported sales of single-family existing homes fell 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million from 4.81 million in May. Compared with June 2010, sales fell 8.8%.

• WSJ 7/19/11: U.S. home construction rose in June to the highest level in five months, but the troubled sector's woes are still weighing on the economy. Construction of homes and apartments last month increased 14.6% from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 629,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Figures for May were revised downward to an annualized pace of 549,000.

• Realtor.org – 6/29/11: Pending home sales rose strongly in May with all regions experiencing gains from a year ago, pointing to higher housing activity in the second half of the year, according to the National Association of Realtors®. The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 8.2 percent to 88.8 in May from an upwardly revised 82.1 in April and is 13.4 percent higher than the 78.3 reading in May 2010. The data reflects contracts but not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.

• Wall Street Journal 06/27/11: U.S. home prices rose in April from a month earlier, the first increase in eight months, though much of the improvement reflected the start of the spring-summer home buying season, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home-price indexes. Home prices were lower year-to-year as the housing struggles to recover amid high unemployment, an abundance of foreclosures and tighter mortgage requirements.

• Wall Street Journal 06/24/2011: The percentage of mortgage applications rejected by the nation's largest lenders increased last year, spotlighting how banks' cautious lending practices are hampering the nascent housing market recovery. In all, the nation's 10 largest mortgage lenders denied 26.8% of loan applications in 2010, an increase from 23.5% in 2009, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of mortgage data filed with banking regulators.

• The Commercial Record 6/23/11: Pending single-family home sales in Greater Hartford rose 40.83 percent in May to 883 from 627 at the same time last year, according to a recent report from the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors (GHAR). Closed sales of single-family homes dropped 28.36 percent to 624 from 871, while new listings increased 34.93 percent to 1,912 from 1,417. The median sale price of Greater Hartford single-family homes in May decreased 4.35 percent to $220,000 down from $230,000 a year ago. The housing inventory rose 14.5 percent to 7,186 from 6,276, and the average days a home stayed on market increased to 85 days from 63 days. "The jump in pending sales may be a signal that the market has finally corrected itself a year after the expiration of the housing tax credit," GHAR President and CEO Jeff Arakelian said. "Affordability and an abundant inventory make this market a great time to buy." While pending single-family home sales increased year-over-year, condominium sales in Greater Hartford decreased 32.52 percent to 136 from 246, according to a statement. The median sale price increased 7.55 percent to $174,500 from $162,250, and the average number of days a condo spent on the market increased to 104 from 86. Inventory also increased 6.99 percent to 1,974 from 1,845.

• Reuters 06/15/2011 - Applications for home mortgages saw their biggest jump in three months last week, fueled by demand for refinancing as interest rates continued to fall, an industry group said on Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, surged 13.0 percent in the week ended June 10, the biggest percent gain since March. The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications spiked up 16.5 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases gained 4.5 percent.

• MarketWatch 05/31/2011 — U.S. home prices fell in March for the eighth straight month, confirming the beleaguered housing market has entered a double-dip recession, according to a closely followed index released Tuesday. Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities declined 0.8% in March on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Case-Shiller home-price index released by Standard & Poor’s. Prices fell in 18 of 20 cities in March on a monthly basis. Only Washington, D.C., and Seattle showed advances. Over the past year, only Washington, D.C., has seen prices advance. Prices fell 3.6% on a year-over-year basis in March, compared with a 3.3% year-over-year drop in February. The 20-city index is now below its April 2009 trough, meaning that home prices have fully retreated from gains posted from May 2009 through June 2010, putting housing in a double-dip downturn.

• MarketWatch 5/27/11 -- Pending home sales fell 11.6% in April, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. The pending home sales index reading of 81.9 in April came after a downwardly revised 92.6 in March, from an initial reading of 94.1. The big drop came after two monthly gains, and the NAR cited unusual weather and economic softness. "The economy hit a soft patch in April from sharply rising oil prices, widespread severe weather with the heaviest precipitation in 20 years, and a sudden rise in unemployment claims," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "Nonetheless, the magnitude of the fall in pending home sales is larger than can be implied by broad economic factors, so we need to see if it's just a one-month aberration."

• MarketWatch 5/24/2011 — U.S. sales of new homes posted their second solid monthly gain in April after hitting extremely low levels in February, according to data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department. In April, sales rose 7.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 323,000 after an 8.3% increase in March, the Commerce Department reported. The increase surprised economists, who had forecast a slight decline to 295,000, according to a MarketWatch survey. Sales gains took place in all four regions. Sales rose 15.1% in the West, 7.7% in the Northeast, 4.9% in the Midwest and 4.3% in the South.

• MarketWatch 5/17/2011 — Builders started construction on fewer new homes in April while permits also fell, reflecting no sign of a rebound in the battered U.S. housing market. Housing starts dropped 10.6% to an annual rate of 523,000 in April, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Starts in March were revised up to 585,000 from an original reading of 549,000, however.

• WSJ 05/09/11: Home values posted the largest decline in the first quarter since late 2008, prompting many economists to push back their estimates of when the housing market will hit a bottom. Home values fell 3% in the first quarter from the previous quarter and 1.1% in March from the previous month, pushed down by an abundance of foreclosed homes on the market, according to data to be released Monday by real-estate website Zillow.com. Prices have now fallen for 57 consecutive months, according to Zillow.

• Marketwatch: 4/26/2011— U.S. home prices fell in February for the seventh straight month, according to a closely followed index released Tuesday, with the beleaguered housing market approaching a double-dip recession. Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities fell 1.1% in February, according to the Case-Shiller home-price index released by Standard & Poor’s.

• Commercial Record, 4/20/2011: Single-family housing inventory in Greater Hartford increased 3.16 percent in March to 6,044, compared to 5,859 during the same time last year, according to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors (GHAR). The median sale price for single-family homes in Greater Hartford fell 5.13 percent to $217,250 in March from $229,000 in March 2010, according to a statement. Month-to-month, the median sale price increased 3.45 percent to $217,000 from $210,000. New listings also decreased by 19.17 percent to 1,606 from 1,987 year-over-year. Compared to the previous month, new listings rose 89.61 percent to 1,606 from 847. Closed sales and pending sales dropped by 21.86 percent and 33.62 percent, respectively, in March compared to the same time last year. Month-to-month, there was a 34.76 percent increase in closed sales to 504 from 374. Pending sales also rose 48.84 percent to 768, up from 516 compared to February.

• MarketWatch 4/20/11 - Sales of existing single-family homes and condos rebounded by 3.7% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected sales to rebound to 5.0 million units in March. Sales fell a revised 8.9% in February to 4.92 million units, up from the initial estimate of an 9.6% drop to 4.8 million units. The median price of homes sold was down 5.9% from last year at $159,600. Inventories of existing homes for sale rose 1.5% to 3.55 million, representing 8.4 months' supply, down from 8.5 months in February.

• Marketwatch 3/23/11: New-home sales fell 16.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 250,000 in February, though January’s figures were revised higher to 301,000 from 284,000. Compared to February 2010, sales collapsed by 28%. Every region but the West saw record lows, and in the Northeast, sales dropped by 50% compared to year-earlier levels. The new-home sales release is notoriously volatile, and the margin of error is plus or minus 19.1%. The less-volatile three-month average to February was 295,000, compared to 307,000 in January.

• MarketWatch 3/21/2011— Sales of previously owned homes dropped 9.6% in February and prices fell to their lowest level since 2002, reflecting a continued slump in the U.S. real estate market. The National Association of Realtors on Monday said sales of existing homes dropped to an annual rate of 4.88 million from an upwardly revised 5.4 million in January. The data is seasonally adjusted.

• MarketWatch 3/16/11 — New construction of U.S. housing units plunged in February, erasing a sharp gain in January and coming close to an all-time-low level.Starts fell 22.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 479,000, the Commerce Department said. This is just 0.4% above the record low of 477,000 units set in April 2009. The decline in starts in February was the largest since March 1984.

• Commercial Record / RealtyTrac 2/24/11: Sales of foreclosed homes fell in 2010 as the market struggled with weak demand, though they still represented more than a quarter of total sales, according to a RealtyTrac report released today.Sales of these distressed properties also fell in the fourth quarter, hurt by continued weakness from the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit and temporary halts in foreclosure sales from several major lenders.

• WSJ 2/23/11 — Existing-home sales unexpectedly rose last month, though a drop in prices to their lowest level in nearly nine years suggests the housing market continues to search for a bottom. Demand for used homes increased by 2.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in January, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected home sales to decline by 0.8%, to an annual rate of 5.25 million. Despite a strong finish last year, with a 12.5% jump in existing-home sales in December, the housing market remains a weak point in the economy. Last year was the worst year since 1997, with about 4.9 million homes sold, according to the NAR.

• Marketwatch 2/22/11: Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities fell 1.0% in December compared with November, the fifth consecutive monthly decline after a tax incentive expired, according to data released Tuesday. The non-seasonally-adjusted Case-Shiller home price index showed prices rose in just one city, Washington D.C., as 2010 came to a close.

• WSJ 2/16/11: Banks Push Home Buyers to Put Down More Cash. The down payments demanded by banks to buy homes have ballooned since the housing bust, forcing many people to rethink what they can afford and potentially shrinking the pool of eligible buyers. Last week, the Obama administration called for gradually raising down payments to a minimum of 10% on conventional loans, meaning those that can be bought or guaranteed by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And mortgage data show that private lenders are already pushing sharply higher the required down payments, mainly to mitigate their risk as home prices continue to fall.
• (MarketWatch) 2/10/11 — The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages jumped to its highest level since the last week in April 2010, after positive economic reports caused long-term bond yields to rise, Freddie Mac’s chief economist said Thursday. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.05% for the week ending Feb. 10, up from 4.81% last week and 4.97% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates.
• MarketWatch 2/10/11 — The volume of foreclosure filings fell 17% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, according to a report released on Thursday by RealtyTrac. Filings rose 1% compared with December, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.
• WSJ 02/08/11: Home Affordability Hits Pre-Bubble Levels. Home affordability has returned to pre-housing-bubble levels in a growing number of U.S. markets over the past year, buoyed by several years of sustained price declines, according to data from Moody's Analytics. The data track the ratio of median home prices to annual household incomes in 74 housing markets. By that measure, housing affordability at the end of September had returned to or fallen below the average reached between 1989-2003 in 47 of those markets. Most economists believe the housing boom began in 2003
• WSJ 2/7/2011: Cash Buyers Lift Housing Market Buyers in markets around the U.S. are snapping up homes in all-cash deals, betting that prices are at or near bottom and breathing life into some of the nation's most battered housing markets.
• Marketwatch 2/3/2011: Reports that signaled a strengthening economy drove bond yields higher this week, causing mortgage rates to rise, Freddie Mac’s chief economist said on Thursday.  Rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.8% for the week ending Jan. 27, up from 4.74% last week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates. The mortgage averaged 4.98% a year ago.
• WSJ 1/31/11:  The Wall Street Journal's latest quarterly survey of housing-market conditions found that prices declined in all of the 28 major metropolitan areas tracked during the fourth quarter when compared to a year earlier.
• MarketWatch 11/11/2010: Fixed-rate mortgages dropped to  record lows this week following the Federal Reserve's announcement it would buy $600 billion in bonds. Freddie Mac said Thurdsay that the benchmark 30-year loan averaged 4.17% this eek, down from 4.24% a week earlier. The 15-year loan fell to a national average 3.57% from 3.63%. That's the lowest for the 30-year since Freddie Mac began keeping records in 1971 and for `5-yar since it was first tracked in 1991.  Adjustable-rate loans also hit or stayed at record lows. The five-year, Treasury-indexed  ARM fell to 3.25% from 3.39% and the one-year ARM remained at its low of 3.26%.
• MarketWatch 10/27/10 — Mortgage rates may be as low as they’ll get — rates are on course to rise, slowly moving toward 5% by the end of next year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s economic forecast, released Tuesday at the group’s annual convention. 
• Washington, October 25, 2010: Existing home sales rose again in September, affirming that a sales recovery has begun, according to the National Association of Realtors....A housing recovery is taking place but will be choppy at times depending on the duration and impact of a foreclosure moratorium. But the overall direction should be a gradual rising trend in home sales with buyers responding to historically low mortgage rates and very favorable affordability conditions.
• Marketwatch 10/14/10 -- Fixed-rate mortgages fell this week to record lows, with the benchmark 30-year loan averaging 4.19%, Freddie Mac said Thursday. It marked the 23rd consecutive week the 30-year has been below 5%.  
• WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) 10/04/10 — Sales of homes in the U.S. rose 4.3% in August, based on the number of contracts signed. The National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index rose to 82.3 from 78.9 in July, adding to evidence that suggests home sales will improve gradually over the next few months. Pending sales reflect contracts signed between home buyers and sellers. The closing of a sale usually takes a few months. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of NAR, said ultra-low interest rates are drawing buyers back into the market, though the housing sector is still subdued. A year earlier, the pending home sales index stood at 103.0. ... Pending sales fell 2.9% in the Northeast, but rose 2.1% in the Midwest, 6.4% in the West and 6.7% in the Midwest
• MarketWatch 09/23/10 — Resales of U.S. single-family homes and condos rebounded a bit in August after hitting a record low in the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. Existing home sales rose 7.6% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.13 million. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected sales to rise to 4.10 million.
• MarketWatch 8/31/10: "Home prices rose 1.0% in June compared with May in 20 major U.S. cities, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's."
• Commercial Record 8/24/10: "Sales of previously owned U.S. homes took a record drop in July to their lowest pace in 15 years, suggesting further loss of momentum in the economic recovery."
• Commercial Record 8/10/2010: "GHAR [Greater Hartford Association of Realtors] data shows marked slowdown in July home sales [in the Greater Hartford Area]"...."New listings rose 5.62 percent [from July 2009]"..."The median sale price increased more than 4 percent ... the average days a home spent on the market increased 16 percent (to 72 days from 62)..."  "Year to date GHAR data shows an increase in closed home sales by slightly more than 5 percent...."  
• Commercial Record 7/9/2010:  "Sales of single-family homes in Connecticut surged 39 percent in May, posting the sharpest increase in sales year-over-year for the month of May in more than two decades, according to the latest report by The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record.
• "WSJ/Marketwatch 05/25/10: "Home prices fell 0.5% in March compared with February in 20 major U.S. cities, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's. However, prices were up 2.3% in the past year, the second consecutive gain."
• Hartford Courant 05/05/10: "House prices in CT jumped 8.1 % in March.....Although the overall market gained in March, the recovery remained uneven across Connecticut's eight counties. Sales rose in all but Tolland County...but prices fell in three counties:-- Middlesex, Tolland and Windham"
• WSJ 04/22/10: "Existing-home sales rose 6.8% in March, slightly more than economists had expected, to a 5.35 million annual rate. First-time buyers purchased 44% of all homes, lured by the government's tax-credit program. The supply of unsold homes fell to eight months, down from 8.5 in February."
• Hartford Courant 03/02/10: "As the housing market tries to bounce off the bottom, results across the state varied greatly in January. ....January 2008 compared with January 2009...Hartford County -4.7%... Tolland County 0.0% ... Windham County +6.0%....."
• MarketWatch/WSJ 02/19/10: "Beginning of the end for housing crisis? Delinquency rate and foreclosure starts drop. loans in foreclosure hit new high. ...possible signs that the foreclosure crisis that has gripped many of the nations's housing markets if finally starting to ease..."
• Hartford Courant 01/09/10: "...the chief of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, speaking in Hartford Friday, says he expects mortgage rates to incrase by as much as three quarters of a percentage point in the coming months as a result of the Fed's ending a program that supports the housing market."
• Wall Street Journal 12/22/09: " U.S. Home Resales Rise 7.4% Sales of previously owned homes rose in November more than expected as low prices and tax relief helped buyers surmount worries about the job market."
• Wall Street Journal 11/23/09: "Home resales leaped up in October, rising far more than expected as a fat tax credit offset fears about joblessness. Sales of existing homes increased by 10.1% to a 6.10 million annual rate from 5.54 million in September, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Inventories kept shrinking. Prices fell, but the NAR said the decline was the smallest in more than a year."
• Wall Street Journal 11/09/09: "Home prices continued to decline across the nation as sales of heavily discounted foreclosed properties weighed down the market"....Still, home sales rose 11.4% nationwide to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.3 million units during the third quarter, up from 4.76 million units in the second quarter".
• Commercial Record 10/02/09: "Single-family home sales in Connecticut continued their climb in August, but median sales prices took another double-digit hit."
• Wall Street Journal 10/23/09: "Existing-home sales increased by 9.4% to a 5.57 million annual rate in September as buyers grabbed lower prices and a tax credit about to vanish. The median price for an existing home last month was $174,900, a drop of 8.5% from a year earlier. An $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers also has helped push up sales."
• Wall Street Journal 08/26/09: "WASHINGTON -- New-home sales climbed more than anticipated in July, staging their fourth straight month of strong gains to add to evidence that the housing market is emerging from its long slump."
• Wall Street Journal 08/21/09: "Existing-Home sales rise 7.2%: "Existing-home sales rose to their highest level in nearly two years from June to July as cheaper prices and the availability of tax credits continued to entice buyers. Home resales rose more than expected, bouncing 7.2% -- the highest month-over-month percentage increase in more than a decade -- to a seasonally adjusted 5.24 million annual rate, the National Association of Realtors said. Foreclosures and short sales reflect 31% of sales in July. The median price for an existing home last month was $178,400, a 15.1% decrease from July 2008.
• Wall Street Journal 07/27/09: "New-Home Sales Jumped 11% in June from May New-home sales soared in June from the previous month..."... the housing market is beginning to recover from its long crisis."..."... year over year, new-home sales were 21.3% lower than the level in June 2008."..."The median price for a new home vs $206,200 in June, down 12.0% from $234,300 in June 2008"..."It appears new home sales reached a bottom in January, ... and that the market is beginning to recover slowly".
• Wall Street Journal 07/23/09: "Existing home sales rose again from the previous month..." ..."Home resales rose more than expected, by 3.6% to a 4.89 million annual rate..."..."Regionally, sales in June compared to May grew 2.5% in the Northeast..."