Market Updates

Home Prices - (Annual Appreciation)
Home Prices - (In Thousands)
Inventory - (Months Supply)
Mortgage Rates - (30-Year Fixed)
Housing Affordability - (% of Income)
Unemployment
Concerns about foreclosure procedure
Rising foreclosure rates - (% of U.S. Homes)
Extended conforming loan limits
The World’s Wealthy
The Wealthy in the United States

Months Supply of Inventory
Days on the Market
Original List-to-Sell
Opportunity
First-Time Home Buyers
Primary Reason for Purchasing a Home
Buyer’s Expected Length of Tenure
Number of Weeks in Home Search
Info Sources Used in Home Search
Where Buyers Found the Home They Purchased
Value of Website Features

Websites Used in Home Search
Method of Home Purchase
Buyer Rep. Arrangement with Agent
What Buyers Want Most from Agents
How Buyers Found Their Agent
Most Important Factors When Choosing an Agent
Method Sellers Used to Find Agent
What Sellers Most Want from Agents
Most Important Factors in Choosing an Agent to Sell Home
Method Used to Sell Home
Incentives Offered to Attract Buyers

Home Prices - (Annual Appreciation)

If home prices actually grew by 4% every year from 1989, the median home price would be $211,082, which is approximately 18% above where we are today.

Source: National Association of REALTORS®

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Home Prices - (In Thousands)

The median home price increased slightly by 0.3% in 2010, the first annual price gain since 2006.

Source: National Association of REALTORS®

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Inventory - (Months Supply)

Number of months it would take to sell all the homes on the market at the current rate of sales

Softer demand in the second half of the year kept inventory of existing homes at a relatively high level of 9.4 months at the end of 2010. However, months of inventory has declined substantially from its peak of 12.5 months reached in July.

Source: National Association of REALTORS®

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Mortgage Rates - (30-Year Fixed)

Mortgage rates averaged 4.69% in 2010, an all-time low since Freddie Mac started tracking in 1971.

Mortgage rates ranged from 4.23% to 5.1% in 2010. At the end of December, rates stood at 4.71%.

Source: Freddie Mac

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Housing Affordability - (% of Income)

% of mean family’s income required to make mortgage payments on a median-priced home

Housing affordability was the most favorable on record in 2010.

Source: National Association of REALTORS®

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Unemployment

Unemployment is making slow progress, dropping from 9.9% in 2009 to 9.4% in the final month of 2010.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Concerns about foreclosure procedure

limited foreclosure sales and steadied prices

In 2010, distressed properties accounted for 34% of all sales, down from 36% in 2009 and 37% in 2008.

Distressed Sales % of Total Sales

Source: National Association of REALTORS®

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Rising foreclosure rates - (% of U.S. Homes)

Remain a trouble spot for the housing market

In 2010, foreclosure filings were reported on a record 2.9 million (2,871,891) U.S. properties despite a thirty-month low reached in December due to foreclosure freezes.

Source: RealtyTrac

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Extended conforming loan limits

What: In July 2008, the housing recovery bill raised the limit on conforming loans in high-cost areas to a maximum of 125% of local median home price, up to an overall cap of $729,750 from $417,000 everywhere.

Why: To increase credit available in higher-priced markets.

When: These limits were set to expire in December 2010 and have now been extended through September of 2011.

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