The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has just released a paper, Demographics and the Numbers Behind the Coming Multi-Million increase in Households, forecasting housing demand over the next ten years. Their study used date from 1975 – 2014 a period encompassing several market and housing cycles and the short version of its conclusion was the “By 2024, demographic and economic changes will bring what could be one of the largest expansions in the history of the U.S. housing market – 15.9 million additional households.” Even if household formation remains at 2014 low rates, demographic changes alone should account for 13.9 million new households by 2024.
Top Questions to Ask When Hiring Professional Movers
Help eliminate the stress of hiring movers by knowing the essential questions to ask to get the answers you need. Here are the questions that American Home Shield recommends.
5 Best Values for Your Home Improvement Dollar
If you’re considering having some remodeling done, it pays to know what will add the most value to your house. Here are some of the best ways to spend your hard-earned home improvement dollars, provided by American Home Shield.
Home Prices Rise in Nearly All Metro Areas in Second Quarter
The National Association of Realtors recently announced that home prices in the second quarter rose in 163 or 176 metro areas. The median existing single-family home price rose $229,400 in the second quarter, up 8.2% from a year earlier. That was a slightly faster rate of increase than the 7.1% price rise seen in the first quarter. In the second quarter, 34 metro areas reported double-digit annual price gains, compared with 51 that reported such gains in the first quarter. The average supply of homes in the second quarter was 5.1 months, down from 5.5 months a year ago. Total existing-home sales, including single family and condo, increased 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.30 million in the second quarter from 4.97 million in the first quarter, and are 8.5 percent higher than the 4.89 million pace during the second quarter of 2014. In the West, existing-home sales climbed 8.1 percent in the second quarter and are 8.1 percent above a year ago. The median existing single-family home price in the West increased 9.6 percent to $325,200 in the second quarter from the second quarter of 2014.
Why staging a home for sale makes a difference
Picture your dream home. Do you see bare walls, empty counters and no furniture? Or do you see a warm, inviting living room with a comfortable loveseat? A bustling kitchen and a full table? There are currently two schools of thought – empty homes sell better, because buyers can imagine their own life in the space. The other is that staging a home for sale is better, because it will show buyers the true potential of the home. Here is why the latter could be the right way to go.
Housing Starts in U.S. Surge to Second Highest Level Since 2007
U.S. housing starts rebounded strongly in June and building permits surged to a near eight-year high, pointing to a rapidly strengthening housing market. Groundbreaking increased 9.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.17 million units, the Commerce Department said recently. Permits for future home construction increased 7.4 percent to a 1.34 million-unit rate, the highest level since July 2007. A survey on Thursday showed builders’ confidence held at a more than 9-1/2-year high in July, suggesting that both permits and groundbreaking have scope to rise further.
Existing-Home Sales Rise in June as Home Prices Surpass July 2006 Peak
Existing-home sales increased in June to their highest pace in over eight years, while the cumulative effect of rising demand and limited supply helped push the national median sales price to an all-time high, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales are now at their highest pace since February 2007, have increased year-over-year for nine consecutive months and are 9.6 percent above a year ago. The median existing-home price in June surpasses the peak median sales price set in July 2006. June’s price increase also marks the 40th consecutive month of year-over-year gains. Unsold inventory is at a 5.0 month supply.
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April Distressed Sales Drop to Lowest Level Since 2007
Distressed sales – real estate-owned (REO) and short sales – made up 11.1% of total home sales in April, down 3 percentage points from April 2014 and down 1.5 percentage points from March. While distressed sales typically decrease month over month in April due to seasonal factors, this distressed sales share was the lowest from the month of April since 2007. Broken up, REO sales accounted for 7.4% and short sales made up 3.7% of total home sales in April. Additionally, the short sales percentage fell below 4% in mid-2014 and has remained stable since then. At its peak in January 2009, distressed sales totaled 32.4% of all sales, with REO sales representing 27.9% of that share. There will always be some level of distress in the housing market, and by comparison, the pre-crisis share of distressed sales was traditionally about 2%. If the current year-over-year decrease in distressed sales share continues, the distressed sales share would reach that ‘normal’ 2-percent mark in mid-2017.
Price Gains Accelerating Again
Nationally the Home Price Index (HPI) is now within 7.6 percent of the peak value it reached in July 2006 of $268,000. Several states have already established new high-water marks for prices including Colorado and Texas which have done so nearly monthly for over a year. Among the largest metropolitan areas Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio all hit new peaks along with Columbus, Ohio, Denver, Honolulu, Nashville, San Francisco and San Jose. Both Boston and Portland, Oregon are now less than 0.75 percent away from doing so as well. Prices as measured by the HPI went up in every state from March to April, led by Washington with a 2.0 percent gain. Michigan and Colorado followed, each at 1.7 percent, Oregon at 1.6 percent, and both Minnesota and the District of Columbia at 1.3 percent.
Managing The Real Estate Details 
