Vancouver Real Estate Blog

American Home Prices Will Begin To Rise In USA Predicts Real Estate Economy Watch

American Real Estate is expected to start rising in year 2013.

Housing starts will nearly double and home prices will begin to rise in 2013, with prices increasing significantly in 2014.

Those rosy predictions come from a new semi-annual survey of 38 of the nation’s leading real estate economists and analysts by the Urban Land Institute’s Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate. The economists foresee broad improvements for the nation’s economy, real estate capital markets, real estate fundamentals and the housing industry through 2014, including:

 The national average home price is expected to stop declining this year, and then rise by 2 percent in 2013 and by 3.5 percent in 2014.

To read more about this report from Real Estate Economy Watch by Steven Cook.

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2012/03/in-two-years-real-estate-will-rock/

American (USA) Home Prices Increasing RE/MAX Announces

For the first time in 18 months, home prices increased year-over-year in February, a turnaround that RE/MAX said signifies a "very active selling season."

A RE/MAX housing survey released Wednesday shows national home prices in February rose 1.1% from a year earlier and 1.4% from January to $171,881.

Of the 53 metro areas included in the survey, 24 experienced price increases from February 2011, including: Miami (20.5%), Orlando, Fla. (15.8%), Phoenix (12.5%), Tampa, Fla. (11.1%), St. Louis (9.8%) and Detroit (8.9%).

Home sales in February rose 8.7% from a year earlier, continuing a trend of eight straight months above the previous year's total. February home sales climbed 8.1% above sales in January.

Of the metros, 45 saw increases over February 2011, with 26 jumping double digits, including: Albuquerque, N.M. (46.6%), Providence, R.I. (36.7%), Raleigh, N.C. (33.8%), Boston (30.5%) and Chicago (27.5%).

“All the data is pointing to a very active spring and summer selling season this year, which is great news for a recovering housing market,” RE/MAX Chief Executive Margaret Kelly said. “As sales numbers have trended higher for several months, we have been anticipating a turnaround in home prices, and it looks like it’s finally starting.”

 

 

The Wall Street Journal Thinks It's Time To Buy Again In America

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that "A historic glut of homes, meanwhile, has created a buyer's market: There were about 15 million vacant homes in the U.S. last year, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc.—some 3.1 million more than normal.

The latest Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller index showing that prices hit new bear-market lows, falling back to 2002 levels nationally and to 1990s levels in some battered regions.

Read the full report click the link below:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304563104576361522020024248.html

American Home Sales - Prices Moved Up 2.2% - Report From Re/Max

Home sales for April were mostly unchanged from the high levels seen in March, according to the RE/MAX National Housing Report.

Investors were involved in nearly a quarter of the transactions in April, signaling that many of them believe that prices have bottomed out and interest rates will soon rise.

The report also shows that inventory levels are still falling, and home prices are up 2.2 percent from March, marking the third consecutive month of increases this year. Consumers’ concerns over the economy likely kept April sales stagnant, but with increasing investor activity, consumers may follow and jump in as summer approaches.

"The market is holding its own in the absence of any artificial stimulus," says RE/MAX CEO Margaret Kelly. "We’re encouraged to see that home prices have been rising this year, and we are hoping that this will motivate buyers who have been waiting for a bottom."

Download the full report

Home Sales In The United States - A Profile of International Home Buyers

The total U.S. Existing Home Sales market was approximately $1.07 trillion in the 12 months ending in March 2011 based on a recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey.

 

 Foreign clients purchased an approximate $41 billion share of homes, the same as the previous year. In addition, recent immigrants (who have moved to the U.S. within the past 2 years) and individuals with visas for more than 6 months purchased an additional $41 billion, for total internationally oriented sales of $82 billion, up from $66 billion reported in 2010.

 International buyers came from a total of 70 countries, the top 5 were Canada, Mexico, China, U.K. and India. These 5 countries accounted for 53% of the transactions in America. Most States of the United States, had at least one international transaction. The top 4 states - Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas accounted for 58% of all the transactions.

  

 

 

 

 

Homes In American - Sales & Prices Rising Reports Re/Max

American Home sales are increasing and prices are rising in many American markets said Margaret Kelly, RE/MAX CEO. "We're going to bump along the bottom, but I think the worse is over".

Margaret Kelly, The  March RE/MAX Housing Report  surveyed 54 metro area's. 53 of the 54 markets saw home sales of March over February increase by double digit percentages, Margaret Kelly mentioned. Also 35 out of 54 cities showed price increases, continuing the trend that has been established since 2011.

"That's very encouraging" Said Kelly. "Kelly cited heavy investor activity as a sign that price bottoms have been reached in many places"

"I'm cautiously optimistic" she said.

To put a Canadian perspective to this picture, Mitchell Mingie of Re/Max Crest(Westside) of Vancouver feels that the US market is slowly starting to change towards the positive side. "It has been a long time coming. This will be a gradual start, but when this American Real Estate Machine starts to roll and it will Mingie added, this will have a huge affect on our local market and across Canada". For example, our forestry and manufacturing sectors will be kicked into full auto drive. Even area's like Whistler which has see a slow down in real estate will start seeing more American sales which have been sluggish over the years. Overall it will be a good thing for both economies. Maybe then, our governments will start to look at reducing our national debts. 

You can watch a   3-minute video of the Bloomberg TV interview of Margaret Kelly or access a PDF of the March RE/MAX Housing Report