As the market turns
As the stock market turns sharply lower today and 10 year Treasury bonds rising strongly which translates into lower interest rates which is good for housing, it should be an interesting spring for all markets.
Opinions vary on the reason for today's turn of events, China, Iran, subprime lending problems, the attempted assassination of VP Cheney in Afghanistan or stock market froth (dare we say "bubble" just because the stock market has gone straight up for 8 months since July 06).
With mixed signals coming out of the housing market with reports released today, my personal indicators for the Charleston real estate market and market trends for this spring look very favorable. I am seeing large increases in my website traffic with many unique visitors, listing views and MLS searches. Showings of listings have been good, my buyers are wanting to make appointments to view properties and my phone has been ringing more during February.
By their nature, the reports on housing that come out in the media are "old news" and while I'll likely publish the February Charleston market report early next week, what I am sharing with you today reflects December and January statistics.
U.S home prices fell 0.7% in the fourth quarter, the fastest rate since 1992, and are up just 0.4% in the past year, Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday in the inaugural release of the national Case-Shiller price index. This new report will be issued quarterly and the index is a composite of single family home price indices.
Please read the entire article, courtesy Marketwatch by Rex Nutting.
Standard and Poor's introduces a national home price index that could provide the most accurate and timely information available.
For background on this new study, Please read the entire article, courtesy Marketwatch by Rex Nutting.
Charts, 10 city, 20 city and National price indexes from S&P Case-Shiller, courtesy of Standard and Poor's.
The above were December numbers, for January, sales of existing U.S. homes rose 3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.46 million in January, the highest sales pace in seven months, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.
Please read the entire article, courtesy Marketwatch by Rex Nutting.