Archive for the ‘The Economy’ Category
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
 Tuesday, the government released its March 2012 New Residential Construction report. The report is made up of three sections, each related to a phase of the “new home” market. The report’s first part is Building Permits; the second is Housing Starts; the third is Housing Completions.
Of the three sections, it’s Housing Starts that gets the most attention from the press — mostly because, of the triad, it’s the simplest for a layperson to understand. However, the manner in which Housing Starts data is reported can be misleading.
Today’s newspapers offer up an excellent example.
According to the Census Bureau, total Housing Starts fell by 6% in March as compared to the month prior. 654,000 units were started on a seasonally-adjusted annualized basis. For Housing Starts, it’s the lowest reading in 5 months, a statistic suggesting that the housing market may have lost some momentum. Much of the press covered the story from a “housing is slowing” angle.
This is a preview of Single-Family Housing Starts Slip 0.2% In March . Read the full post »
Tags: Building Permits, Census Bureau, Housing Starts
Posted in Housing Analysis, Statistics, The Economy | No Comments »
Thursday, April 19th, 2012
 The housing market took a step back in February, but remains near post-recession highs.
According to data from the National Association of REALTORS®, February’s Pending Home Sale Index slipped .5% from the month prior, to 96.5. The Pending Home Sales Index is a monthly report which measures the number of homes under contract to sell, but not yet sold, nationwide.
The index is benchmarked to a value of 100, the average level of home contract activity in 2001, the first year that pending home sales data was analyzed. It also happened to be a year of historically-high levels of home contract activity. Therefore, a Pending Home Sales Index reading of 100 suggests a strong housing market nationwide. The index has read north of 90 since October 2011.
On a regional basis, February’s Pending Home Sales Index varied :
- Northeast Region: -0.5 percent from January 2012
- Midwest Region : +5.7 percent from January 2012
- South Region : -3.3 percent from January 2012
This is a preview of Pending Home Sales Index Remains Strong Into Spring . Read the full post »
Tags: Home Prices, NAR, Pending Home Sales Index
Posted in Buying A Home, Housing Analysis, Residential Real Estate, The Economy | No Comments »
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
This week, once more, we find mortgage rates are on a downward trajectory. Conforming mortgage rates have returned to near all-time lows. After this morning’s Non-Farm Payrolls report, however, those low rates may come to an end.
It’s a risky time for Colorado home buyers and would-be refinancers to be without a locked rate. Each month, on the first Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report for the month prior. More commonly called the “jobs report”, Non-Farm Payrolls provides a sector-by-sector employment breakdown and the nation’s Unemployment Rate. In December 2011, the government reported 200,000 net new jobs created, and an Unemployment Rate of 8.5%.
For January 2012, economists project 135,000 net new jobs with no change in the Unemployment Rate and, depending on how accurate those predictions are proved, FHA and conforming mortgage rates for homes in the Denver area are subject to change. The monthly jobs reports tends to have an out-sized influence on the direction of daily mortgage rates. The connection between jobs and mortgage rates is fairly direct.
This is a preview of Home Affordability Threatened By Friday’s Jobs Report . Read the full post »
Tags: Buy home, home buyer, Jobs Report, mortgages, Non-Farm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate
Posted in The Economy | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
What is Upside-Down Marketing?
One of the best ways to get more of what you want in life is to help others get more of what they want. This is “upside down marketing” in a nutshell. The normal business practice is to have a product or service, start looking for prospects, and make the sale. The normal way of doing business does not work as effectively as in the past. Let’s turn business upside down! You will not want to miss being inspired by Vickie Thomas, our keynote speaker, who will tell you about marketing in a new business climate.
Marketing ideas that will work today require you to create some new practices for the current business paradigm. In this workshop, you will learn about some marketing strategies that will separate you from the competition and give you the results you desire.
This is a preview of Upside-Down Marketing Event . Read the full post »
Posted in The Economy | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Standard & Poor’s released its September 2011 Case-Shiller Index this week. The index tracks home price changes in select cities between months, quarters, and years.
The Case-Shiller Index for September showed drastic devaluations nationwide.
As compared to August, home values fell throughout 17 of the index’s 20 tracked markets, led by Atlanta’s 5.9% drop. On an annual basis, home values have now returned to early-2003 levels. As you can see, Denver remained relatively constant, dropping less than 1%, even according to Case-Shiller.
That said, home buyers and sellers in the Genesee area should be cautious when referencing the Case-Shiller Index. The index is a flawed metric and as such, can lead to improper conclusions about the housing market overall. The Case-Shiller Index’s first flaw is its most obvious — its limited sample set. According to Wikipedia, there are more than 3,100 municipalities nationwide. Yet, the Case-Shiller Index includes data from just 20 of them in its findings. These 20 cities account for fewer than 1% of all U.S. cities, and just a small percentage of the overall U.S. population. The “national figures” aren’t really national, in other words. Even on a city-by-city basis, the Case-Shiller Index gets it wrong.
This is a preview of Case-Shiller Index: 17 Of 20 U.S. Housing Markets Slipped In September . Read the full post »
Tags: Case-Shiller Index, Home Values, Standard & Poors
Posted in Buying A Home, Buying in a Recession, Housing Analysis, Residential Real Estate, The Economy | No Comments »
Friday, October 28th, 2011
 Nationwide, fewer homes are going under contract to sell. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the Pending Home Sales Index fell 5 percent last month. September marks the fourth consecutive month in which the index has dropped.
The Pending Home Sales Index is a monthly index which measures the number of homes under contract to sell, but not yet closed. As such, it’s among the few “forward-looking” housing indicators; a data set meant to predict future home sales.
80% of homes under contract close within 2 months so, if the September Pending Home Sales Index is to be believed, we should expect home sales to decline through October and November. And that’s before we account for cancelled contracts.
Also from the National Association of REALTORS®, we learn that 18 percent of homes under contract failed to close in September. This is double the failure rate from September 2010 and it, too, should drag Existing Home Sales volume lower this fall.
This is a preview of Pending Home Sales Index Slips For 4th Straight Month . Read the full post »
Tags: Existing Home Sales, home buyer, NAR, Pending Home Sales
Posted in Buying A Home, Buying in a Recession, Housing Analysis, Real Estate Definitions, Residential Real Estate, The Economy | No Comments »
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