Realtors: We Overcounted Home Sales for Five Years - US Business News

Data on sales of previously owned U.S. homes from 2007 through October this year will be revised down next week because of double counting, indicating a much weaker housing market than previously thought.

CNBC.com

The National Association of Realtors said a benchmarking exercise had revealed that some properties were listed more than once, and in some instances, new home sales were also captured.

"All the sales and inventory data that have been reported since January 2007 are being downwardly revised. Sales were weaker than people thought," NAR spokesman Walter Malony told Reuters.

"We're capturing some new home data that should have been filtered out and we also discovered that some properties were being listed in more than one list."

via cnbc.com

This is not good and makes no sense that they didn't think of this sooner. Calls into question their other numbers now. The NAR just got a big black eye.

JPMorgan expects home prices to dip « HousingWire

Friday, June 10th, 2011, 7:54 am

JPMorgan (JPM: 41.05 +0.17%) predicted a further dip in home prices this past month, forecasting another 4% to 5% drop in home values between now and mid-2012.

In its June 2011 Home Price Monitor Report, the bank lowered its base home price forecast to a level that's 37% under peak price levels.

The financial services firm blames its lowered price expectations on a supply-and-demand imbalance, as well as anemic consumer demand and disappointing economic reports.

The good news is CoreLogic's home price index grew a slight 0.7% in April, which shows some signs of possible price stability, JPMorgan said.

But home prices still declined more than anticipated in the first quarter, reaching a new post-2006 low, the bank said.

Making matters worse, JPMorgan's Home Price Monitor report points to a 12% drop in pending home sales in the month of April.

The bank said "a looming question is when and if lending standards will ease enough to boost demand."

Write to Kerri Panchuk.

via housingwire.com

Daily Real Estate News

Report: Real estate market won't hit bottom this year

Nearly half of all sales are distressed

By Inman News
Inman News™

Home values fell 8 percent year-over-year in April, according to a report from property search and valuation site Zillow.

Zillow's Home Value Index is now down 29.5 percent, to a median $169,588, from its peak of $240,656 in June 2006. That's equivalent to the index's level in May 2003, the report said.

Of 132 metro areas tracked, only three saw year-over-year appreciation: Honolulu (1 percent); Pittsburgh (0.9 percent); and Fort Myers, Fla. (0.5 percent). Nearly half saw double-digit decreases.

Homes in Ocala, Fla., lost the most value (-19.9 percent), followed by Manchester, N.H.; and Gainesville, Ga. (-16.5 percent each).

Month-to-month depreciation slowed slightly in April compared to late 2010. From March to April, the index fell 0.8 percent, compared with a 0.9 percent dip between November and December.

"In general, current trends are consistent with our earlier expectations of depreciation rates improving in the spring but from absolute levels that are high enough and at a pace that is slow enough that a bottom won't be reached this year," said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist, in a statement.

"Key drivers at this point are the pace of foreclosures and improvement in the employment picture."

Depreciation was sharpest in the least expensive one-third of homes, which fell 1 percent month-to-month and 15 percent year-over-year, to a median value of $93,100. Values among the middle tier of homes declined 0.8 percent month-to-month and 8.7 percent year-over-year, to a median $157,600.

The most expensive third dipped 0.7 percent month-to-month and 4.9 percent year-over-year, to a median $293,500.

The rate of homes lost to foreclosure -- those repossessed by the lender or sold to a third-party at auction -- remained flat year-over-year at 10 of every 10,000 homes.

"This rate is substantially higher than the recent low point reached in December 2010, when 8.8 per 10,000 homes were liquidated, but also less than the high point of 11.3 per 10,000 homes, reached in October before the foreclosure slowdowns began," Humphries said.

Foreclosure resales rose for the 10th straight month in April, to 24 percent of overall sales, up from 16 percent in April 2010. That figure doesn't include short sales, which Zillow said accounted for an equal share of transactions in April.

Copyright 2011

Wow, the bad news just keeps coming.

March home prices suffer double-dip setback - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. single-family home prices dropped in March, dipping below their 2009 low, as the housing market remained bogged down by inventory and weak demand, a closely watched survey said on Tuesday.

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas declined 0.2 percent in March from February on a seasonally adjusted basis, in line with economists' expectations.

The price index was below the low seen in April 2009 during the financial crisis. The glut of houses for sale, foreclosures, tight credit and weak demand have kept the housing market on the ropes even as other areas of the economy start to recover.

The 20-city composite index was at 138.16, falling below the 2009 low of 139.26.

"This month's report is marked by the confirmation of a double-dip in home prices across much of the nation," David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indices, said in a statement. "Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight."

Eight cities fell 1 percent or more in March, while Washington was the only city where prices increased on both a monthly and yearly basis. Prices in the 20 cities fell 3.6 percent year over year, topping expectations for a decline of 3.3 percent.

"The declines sustained in the last 12 months have almost erased the gains of the previous 12 months. The housing market is treading backward, but not drowning," said Cary Leahey, economist and managing director at Decision Economics in New York.

In the first quarter, the national index fell 1.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared to a decline of 1.8 percent in the previous quarter. On a non-adjusted basis, they fell by 4.2 percent in the quarter. Nationally, home prices are back to their mid-2002 levels, the report said.

Financial markets saw little reaction to the data, with U.S. stock index futures pointing to a higher open on optimism that new aid for Greece from the European Union was on the horizon.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr, additional reporting by Ellen Freilich, editing by W Simon )

via news.yahoo.com

More data that shows the real estate market is more than just soft. This quote by David Blitzer is disheartening: "Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight." We will keep an eye on this to see how things trend over the next couple of months which are traditionally good months for selling a home.

Pending Home Sales: Pending Home Sales Dive 11.6% in April - CNBC

Pending sales of existing U.S. homes dropped far more than expected in April to touch a seven-month low, a trade group said on Friday, dealing a blow to hopes of a recovery in the housing market.

The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index dropped 11.6 percent to 81.9 in April, the lowest since September. Pending home sales lead existing home sales by a month or two.

Economists, who had expected pending home sales to fall 1.0 percent last month, said bad weather in some parts of the country might have affected home shopping.

"There may some temporary factors like bad weather in the South," said Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

"Higher gasoline may be making potential home buyers a bit cautious. It is signaling further weakness in housing, but we do expect housing to turn around later this year. It just hasn't happened yet."

Pending home sales in the South, which was ravaged by tornadoes, dropped 17.2 percent. Sales were also down in the Midwest and the West.

The weak housing market is one the headwinds facing the economy as it make a slow recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s. The economy grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter after expanding at a 3.1 pace in the last three months of 2010.

via cnbc.com

The market continues to stagnate. Until there is some certainty about where the economy is going the housing market will continue to trudge along the bottom. There has been very little positive news to give buyers a reason to buy a home. I expect we will be like this for at least another 2 years.

Existing home sales rise, prices fall - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose more than expected in March, a trade group said on Wednesday, suggesting the housing market's downward trend may be close to hitting a bottom.

The National Association of Realtors said sales rose 3.7 percent month over month to an annual rate of 5.10 million units after an upwardly revised 4.92 million unit pace in February.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales to rise 2.5 percent to a 5.0 million-unit pace from the previously reported 4.88 million unit rate. Sales have now risen in six of the past eight months.

"It's slow, steady progress, but you cannot not be disturbed by the slow pace of recovery," said Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics in New York. "Demand is rising even with higher mortgage rates so that's encouraging."

The housing market is struggling to find its footing as a wave of foreclosed properties keeps supply elevated and prices depressed.

Last month, foreclosures and short sales, which typically occur at about 20 percent below market value, accounted for 40 percent of transactions. That was the highest since April 2009 and was up from 39 percent in February.

The median home price fell 5.9 percent in March from a year earlier to $159,600. Compared with March last year, sales were down 6.3 percent.

"A sustained turnaround in the housing market is still far off based on earlier-released depressed readings for housing starts, building permits and builders' confidence indices," said Krishen Rangasamy an economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto.

MORTGAGE APPLICATIONS UP

A separate report on Wednesday showed demand for home loans rose last week, as interest rates eased and purchase activity picked up. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its purchase index rose 10 percent to 210.8, the highest since early December.

Last month, all-cash purchases made up a record 35 percent of sales in March and the NAR said the lower and upper ends of the market were showing strong activity, with the middle part -- which accounts for the existing housing market -- remaining sluggish.

Sales last month rose across the board, with multifamily dwellings rising 1.6 percent and single-family home units advancing 4 percent.

At March's sales pace, the supply of existing homes on the market slipped to 8.4 months' worth from 8.5 months in February. However, the number of previously owned homes on the market rose 1.5 percent to 3.55 million.

A supply of between six and seven months is generally considered ideal, with higher readings pointing to lower house prices.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

via news.yahoo.com