Southern California Home Sales Jump in Feb, Prices Down Yr/Yr

The Southland housing market posted the highest number of February home sales in five years as record levels of investor and cash buyers helped spur robust activity under $300,000. The median price paid for homes across the six-county region inched up from January but dropped below the year-earlier level for the 12th consecutive month, a real estate information service reported. The increase in sales between January and February was larger than usual. On average, sales have risen 1.1 percent between those two months since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. Southland sales have increased year-over-year for two consecutive months and for six out of the last seven months.

US Housing Among Most Attractive Assets In The World

The housing market in the south of the United States is among the most attractive asset classes in the world, Marc Faber, the editor of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report, told CNBC on Friday, because while homebuilder stocks had rallied, property prices hadn’t moved much. “If you look at the supply of homes, new construction, and you compare it to immigration into the United States, to the growth of the population, then these markets are very attractive from a longer term perspective,” Faber told Bernie Lo on CNBC’s Straight Talk.

Las Vegas Region November Home Sales Rise

Last month the number of homes that resold rose 11.3 percent on a year-over-year basis, marking the 11th consecutive month in which resales have posted an annual gain. It was the highest number of resales for a November since 2009, and the second-highest since 2005. November sales of newly-built homes also rose from a year earlier, by 9.8 percent, but were still the second-lowest on record for a November. New-home sales have risen year-over-year for the past five consecutive months.

Pending Home Sales Rise To A Year-and-a-Half High

Pending home sales continued to gain in November and reached the highest level in 19 months, according to the National Association of Realtors®. The last time the index was higher was in April 2010 when it reached 111.5 as buyers rushed to beat the deadline for the home buyer tax credit. The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

California November Home Sales

Indicators of market distress in Calirornia continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity is high, but not increasing. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, cash and non-owner occupied buying is flat at a high level, DataQuick reported.

Global Uncertainty: Is this a good time to buy USA Real Estate?

Often, we are asked by potential investors: Is this a good time to buy property in the USA?… When will the recovery happen?.. And what about the US Dollar?…  Isn’t it just better to invest at home? Here I attempt to answer these commonly asked questions… I actually traded for a living for a few years (for myself, not a job).  I’ve always loved reading about...

USA House Prices: Nominal, Real, and Price-to-Rent Values

Below are three graphs from Calculated Risk showing nominal prices (as reported), real prices and a price-to-rent ratio: Nominal House Prices The first graph shows the quarterly Case-Shiller National Index SA (through Q3 2011), and the monthly Case-Shiller Composite 20 SA and CoreLogic House Price Indexes (through September) in nominal terms (as reported). Real House Prices The second graph...

US Real Estate: Smart diversification option for HNI Indians

The reason is perhaps not hard to come by. Rohit Prakash, President – American Full House LLC says, “In the last few years property prices in India have risen significantly. Investors who invested at the lows in India have gained from this rise. They are now looking at booking profits and investing in other assets that are available at reasonable valuations. The US real estate market is one such avenue where prices are currently at the lower end of the range with potential for strong upside. In addition, while smaller investors may be hard pressed to find good properties at $100,000 in India very easily today, there are quite a few such opportunities in the US.”

Miami-area home sales held at 5 year high in September

Miami-area home sales held at a five-year high in September, rising 15 percent from a year earlier as price reductions and super-low mortgage rates helped stoke year-over-year sales gains across the price spectrum. The median sale price fell short of the year-ago level for the 48th consecutive month but the magnitude of the decline – 1.5 percent – was the smallest yet, a real estate information service reported.

Southern California Aug Home Sales Rise

August was the first month since June 2010 to post a year-over-year gain in home sales. Last month was also the first since November 2009 in which all six Southland counties logged higher sales than a year earlier.