Loading...
Symbols:
Authors:

Housing Market Tracker - Real Estate Sales and House Prices

by: SA Editor Judy Weil November 22, 2007    
Judy-Weil

SA Editor
Judy Weil

About this author:
Become a Contributor Submit an Article
  • Font Size:
  • Print

Here's our summary of articles and data points on the housing market. It's part of Seeking Alpha's coverage of the real estate market and homebuilder stocks. Like all other topics and stock coverage from Seeking Alpha, you can have this sent to your Blackberry or desktop email by signing up for our no-spam free email subscription service.

Quote of the Day

"I'm surprised that it's still continuing. You keep thinking it's going to turn around." - Florida's Space Coast Association of Realtors President Lance Vandeberg said, referring to slumping Florida sales and prices." (Florida Today, Nov. 22nd)

Real Estate Sales and House Prices

  • Maryland Home Sales Tumble Nearly 30% (Baltimore Sun, Nov. 22nd): "National Association of Realtors: Maryland's housing market register[ed] the fourth-biggest drop among all the states... [while] the median sale price of existing homes in the Baltimore area managed to rise 1.7% in Q3'07 from Q3'06. Maryland's home-sales dive of 28.6% [from Q3'06] was more than double the 13.7% drop for the nation... Home sales in Baltimore and the five surrounding counties plunged 31.74% in October from October 2006... The Baltimore area median single-family home price rose to $291,400, up from $286,500 during Q3'06. The median price of an apartment or condo rose 2.9% to $241,100 from $234,400 a year earlier."

  • Home Prices Decline in One Third of U.S. Metro Areas (Bloomberg, Nov. 21st): "National Association of Realtors: Home prices fell in one third of U.S. cities last quarter as stricter lending standards caused a 14% decline in sales nationwide. Prices dropped in 54 of 150 metropolitan areas in Q3 and the median sales price tumbled 2% nationwide. Home sales, including single-family properties and condominiums, slid to 5.42 million at an annualized pace from 6.29 million a year ago... The housing slump [appears to] match the slowdown 18 years ago that ended in the 1991 recession. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun: The housing decline will reduce gross domestic product growth to 2.1% in 2007 from 2.9% a year ago."

  • Median Sales Price For Wisconsin Homes Up 2.4% (Wisconsin State Journal, Nov. 21st): "Wisconsin Realtors Association: The median sale price for existing homes in Wisconsin rose 2.4% during July-September. A total of 16,902 Wisconsin home sales were reported from July through September, down about 10% from 18,777 sales during Q3'06. The figures do not include unreported sales or homes sold without a real estate agent. The statewide median sales price was $170,000. In Dane County, the median home price was $225,000, up 4.8% over a year ago, and 1,900 home sales were reported, down 4.6% from Q3'06."

  • Midwest Homes Sales Down 11% In 3Q (Dayton Business Journal, Nov. 21st): "National Association of Realtors' quarterly survey: Single-family housing sales in the Midwest tumbled 11% from Q3'06 to 1.27 million residences. The decline in the Northeast was a more temperate 7%. But sales in the West plunged 22% while the South saw a 14% third-quarter decline... In the Midwest, the gain was marginal at 0.5% to $170,800 median, the lowest among the U.S. regions. The Youngstown area posted the lowest median home selling price nationwide at $81,600, while the Akron area saw the second-largest sales price gain in the region - to $170,800 median price, up 7 percent from Q3'06."

  • Houston Home Sales Decline Slowing, Says HAR (Houston Business Journal, Nov. 20th): "Houston Association of Realtors: The Houston real estate market is on pace for its second-best year on record... There were 6,244 property sales in October, 8.6% fewer than in October 2006. However, this compared favorably with September sales, which were 16.7% lower in 2007 than in 2006. Properties sold during the month were worth $1.21 billion, 3.3 percent lower than October last year's $1.25B. The average single-family home price in October rose 5.7% compared with last October to $199,937, while the median home price for a single-family home remained relatively flat at $145,390, just 0.5% lower than in October 2006."

  • U.S. Economy: Building Permits Slump to 14-Year Low (Bloomberg, Nov. 20th): "Homebuilding permits in the U.S. slumped to their lowest level since 1993 and construction of single-family homes tumbled, indicating the industry has yet to reach bottom. Housing starts unexpectedly rose in October due to a jump in work on condominium projects. Economists view permits as a better measure of the health of the housing market, which may hobble the economy as companies from Target Corp. to Starbucks Corp. cut their outlooks for fourth-quarter growth."

  • Jersey City Market Skirts The Housing Storm (The Real Deal, Nov. 19th): "Prices in Jersey City are holding steady, and thousands of new units are under construction or in development. Developer Peter Mocco: "This is a submarket that shares more with Manhattan than with the traditional submarket of New Jersey. The subprime borrower never made up a meaningful percentage of the buyers in Jersey City." But it's Jersey City's link with Manhattan that may eventually cause the city's booming housing market to falter. That's because Jersey City's market draws a lot of its business from young professionals, usually first-time buyers who've been priced out of New York City's market."

  • Housing is No Different in Portland and Seattle (Michael Shedlock in Seeking Alpha, Nov. 19th): "City by city the arguments as to "why it's different here" have all failed. We heard demographic arguments about Florida, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. We heard lack of land arguments about Boston. We heard climate and everyone wants to live here... about California... We heard Phoenix is cheap compared to California... The same arguments were made about... the entire nation of Japan. Prices in Japan fell for 18 consecutive years and there are less places to build in Japan than there are in Seattle... In every instance above, home prices headed south the moment the pool of greater fools dried up."

Tracking the Housing Market and Homebuilder Stocks

You can track developments in the housing market, homebuilder/housing stocks and review subprime news by bookmarking our Housing coverage or subscribing to our free email service.

If you have a blog or website of your own, you can track developments in the sector and provide great content for your readers with our Housing Market widget (left).

It's simple to add -- just select "Housing Market" from the drop-down menu here.

Related Articles
More by SA Editor Judy Weil

Investment Resources
Money Management 

Research 

Seeking Alpha provides these ads as a service to its leading contributors
Articles on related themes
Real Estate and REITs 

Housing & Real Estate 

Real Estate 

Bonds