Housing market continuing improvement

Housing market continuing improvement
The Federal Savings Bank
November 20, 2012

According to the recently released October National Housing report from RE/MAX, which is a survey of MLS data in 52 metropolitan areas, there was a continuation of the positive trends that have been experienced for the housing market over the past year.

The report showed that closed transactions increased by 17.8 percent over October 2011, and the median home price increased by 2.1 percent over the median that was experienced last October.

Falling inventory has been one of the significant concerns of those in the housing industry. The number of homes that were put up for sale decreased in October to 28.9 percent than it was last October. The lower number of inventory has resulted in prices increasing, but has also presented a challenge for many home buyers because multiple offers are being put up on a lower number of homes, causing bidding wars.  With the housing market improving, first-time home buyers should take advantage of the low prices.

"As we enter the fourth quarter, 2012 is looking like the turn-around year for housing, with significant increases in sales and prices," said Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX. "However, we recognize that this recovery is still fragile and dependent on more reasonable lending and regulation. If qualified buyers can obtain mortgages and more inventory comes to market, this recovery could become even stronger next spring."

The October RE/MAX National Housing Report showed that home sales were 17.8 percent higher than they were in October 2011, representing the 16th consecutive month that sales were higher than the same month in the previous year.

Sales of homes were also up by 5.4 percent compared to the previous month, which housing experts say is an impressive performance considering the seasonal patterns typically see a slight drop from September to October.

The median sales price for homes that were sold in October was $158,900, which represents a 3.7 percent decrease from the median price that was reported in September. The $158,900 was also a 2.1 percent increase from October 2011, marking the ninth straight month that higher prices were seen compared to the same time last year.

Green building has also become more popular recently, which is encouraging more homeowners to look at energy-saving homes to reduce their carbon footprint on the environment.


Tagged As : First Time Homebuyers