Housing affordability conditions for all buyers reached a milestone in the first quarter, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR’s composite quarterly Housing Affordability Index rose to a record high of 205.9 in first quarter, based on the relationship between median home price, median family income and average mortgage interest rate. The higher the [...]

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes gained five points in May from a downwardly revised reading in the previous month to reach a level of 29 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. This is the index’s strongest reading since May of 2007. “Builders [...]

Many agents across the country are experiencing strong and stable sales. For others, the market is more uncertain. And if the recent economic situation of the last couple of years has taught us anything, it’s reinforced that old adage: You shouldn’t put all of your eggs in one basket. One solution that agents all across [...]

The new year opened with hope that the 3 percent growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reported for the end of 2011 would lead to stronger job growth and improving housing markets. While January and February offered positive economic news, March and April reporting suggested that unusually warm weather may have accelerated some economic [...]

It’s no secret that this is a good time to buy, but more and more sellers are beginning to agree. The uptick in seller confidence recorded by two recent surveys is uplifting, but concern is growing that seller withdrawal from the market is creating record low inventories that are limiting buyer choice, and curtailing sales [...]

I don’t know how many people would openly admit this, but many feel they are just not exactly where they want to be yet in life. Some are close or on the right track, while others are nowhere near where they thought they would be. One thing that I have learned as a speaker and [...]

Recently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hosted a White House Forum on Housing to discuss programs and initiatives promoted by the Obama Administration that help responsible homeowners and struggling communities hit hardest by the housing crisis. The White [...]

The list of housing markets showing measurable and sustained improvement held virtually unchanged in May at 100, down from 101 in April, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI). The number of states represented on the list also held firm from the previous month, at 35 (including the District [...]

As of December 2011, the official lockbox provider of The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) is 100 percent owned by NAR, the organization has announced. Now directly accountable to the real estate community it serves, SentriLock, LLC, as the official lockbox provider for NAR, will continue to focus on providing high-quality, technologically innovative solutions that [...]

The forecast for the rest of 2012 shows mild increases building up to a stronger 1.2 percent by year end, according to the Home Data Index™ (HDI) Market Report, recently released by Clear Capital®, with data through March 2012. The HDI Market Report uses a broad array of public and proprietary data sources providing the [...]