The state of the economy, falling wages, and rising unemployment have had a dramatically negative impact on homes sales over the past year, but several factors have recently contributed to a turnaround in the home market. However, the 0.7 percent gain in home sales that was seen last month was far below what analysts on Wall Street expected.
New-home sales increased in August to 429,000, up from the 426,000 homes that were sold in July, according to statistics released by the Commerce Department. Although it was the fifth consecutive month to feature an increase in home sales, the percentage of growth …read more

The National Association of Realtors has reported a surprising increase in home sales throughout the Midwest, a market that began to recover as early as the end of last year. This gain of 3 percent in the Midwest marks the very first increase since September of last year, signaling the potential for more widespread recovery.
Analysts have credited affordable home prices and a consumer awareness that prices may be at their lowest for a rebound in home sales. The Midwest, which includes twelve states, has seen prices fall an average of 9 percent from last year to now, with $157,000 standing …read more

A few months ago, the United States seemed to be on the brink of having a full-blown housing crisis. Now, things have started to look better for the nation’s housing market, according to the latest numbers by the National Association of Realtors.
For three straight months, houses that were previously occupied showed an improvement in sales. The number of houses on the market and sales of houses in foreclosure are both in decline — which is definitely good news.
Despite the good news, there’s also a few pessimistic experts. How will the United States housing market be affected when the $8,000 tax …read more

December showed a surprising increase in home sales across the country, a positive sign in a world of uncertainty.  According to realtor.org, existing home sales rose 6.5% in December, a nice increase in a tough year.  Home prices have been falling as have interest rates, creating a perfect climate for home buyers.  The factors that make buying a home attractive to potential home buyers are falling into place and while there is no way of knowing whether real estate prices have hit the bottom it is certain that if they are not at the bottom they will be soon.
In a …read more

While it is true that for most parts of the country home sales are down, home sales for more expensive homes have had an even larger drop due to the higher interest rates for larger mortgages.  A Jumbo Loan was previously considered a loan of $729,000 or more.  The three main lending and home mortgage instutiions, FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are considering lowering the Jumbo amount somewhere around $650,000.
A recent article by Walter Molony at realtor.org states that  “the latest existing-home sales data shows transactions under $400,000 are 3 percent below a year ago. However, sales of homes …read more

Crain’s Chicago Business , one of the top business publications around, recently wrote a small story about the high number of new-construction homes that have yet to be finished. Crain’s refers to them as white elephants.

But no one can say that the editors at Crain’s Chicago Business aren’t working extra hard — maybe a bit too hard — to find the good news in the local housing market.

Every home seller — or at least most of them — asks the question: What do real estate agents do to earn that standard 6 percent commission every time one of their house listings sells? According to a recent story in the New York Times, the answer to that question increasingly is: A lot.

The National Association of Realtors on Jan. 24 released the news that anyone trying to sell a home already knows: Housing sales were down in 2007.