by Leon Yang



 

realestate.aol.com - 04/01/2013 - For many people their first goal in real estate is to purchase their own home. While it is most ideal to buy your first home before thinking about investing further in real estate, I believe at times that depends on where you live. The costs to purchase real estate in places like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are often extremely expensive. Furthermore, maintaining the property is expensive as well -- property taxes, management fees, HOAs, etc. For those home buyers it is a huge investment and can take a long time before they can truly take the chance.

Not All Real Estate Prices are the Same On the other hand, there are other cities in America that have extremely reasonable real estate prices. For example, a single-family house in Las Vegas can cost anywhere from one-fourth...

by Oscar Pedro Musibay

 

South Florida Business Journal - 04/01/2013 - The SLS Brickell condo-hotel project that The Related Group and Sam Nazarian are planning on South Miami Avenue features a multi-colored box with vertical stripes at street level as its visual focal point. The Arquitectonica-designed building could also open up to a Lincoln Road-type pedestrian mall on South Miami Avenue. Related's Jorge Pérez has suggested such a change to the city, with Arquitectonica creating a plan for how traffic might be rerouted to allow closures from 8th to 13th streets.

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by KCM CREW

 

kcmblog.com - 02/25/2013 - One of the most interesting revelations of the latest National Association of Realtors (NAR) Existing Home Sales Report is the shortage of housing inventory being reported throughout much of the country. At the same time, buyer demand is dramatically up over last year. Here are some key points:

 

◾Total housing inventory at the end of January fell 4.9 percent to 1.74 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 4.2-month supply at the current sales pace.

◾This represents the lowest housing supply since April 2005 when it was also 4.2 months.

◾Listed inventory is 25.3 percent below a year ago when there was a 6.2-month supply.

◾Raw unsold inventory is at the lowest level since December 1999 when there were 1.71 million homes on the market.

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floridarealtors.org - WASHINGTON – Jan. 24, 2013 – Short sales are getting much shorter, Freddie Mac says. The mortgage giant launched a Freddie Mac Standard Short Sale program on Nov. 1 that sought to speed up the short sale process and make it easier and more transparent.

By Chris Isidore

@CNNMoney - January 22, 2013 - Steady December home sales capped the best year for the U.S. real estate market in five years, according to an industry trade group report Tuesday.

The National Association of Realtors said that December sales of previously-owned homes came in just slightly below November's sales pace, but up 12.8% from a year ago. That brought full-year sales to 4.65 million, up 9% from 2011 and the best year for home sales since 2007, when there were 5 million homes sold just before the start of the recession.

by Megan Hopkins

housingwire.com 01/07/2013 - Despite beginning the year with market lows, most home prices gained momentum toward the end up 2012, finishing the year at 4.9% year-over-year price gains. Some markets, though they are few, may also suffer a backslide in values.

According to the latest Clear Capital home data report, national home prices are expected to increase by only 2.1% this year. The 2013 yearly gains are expected to be smaller partly because homes are starting on a higher price base, but the entire explanation is more complex than that, Clear Capital notes. 

by Alexei Barrionuevo

nytimes.com - 12/06/12 - OUTSIDE the United States, many real estate developers have less of an appetite for risk than their counterparts here.

In South America, for instance, developers typically ask buyers to pony up a big chunk of the total price of an apartment in a new development long before it’s finished.

By Sarah Portlock and Jeffrey Sparshott

 blogs.wsj.com - 09/18/2012 -  U.S. home-builders’ confidence rose to its highest level in more than six years in September, the latest sign of recovery for the long downtrodden housing market.

The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday that its housing market index rose three points to 40 this month, the fifth consecutive gain. The results were just above expectations. Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a reading of 39.

by Nick Timiraos

blogswsj.com- 09/18/2012 - The number of homes listed for sale fell in August, led by a clutch of California cities that posted outsized declines.

Inventories fell in August by 1.2% from July, bucking a seasonal pattern of a slight uptick before the summer season ends. Listings were down by 18.7% from one year ago and 

34.1% from two years ago, according to a report from Realtor.com.

Falling inventories are a leading driver behind the recent

rally in home prices, and the declines point to continued price-strength in many parts of the Western U.S., which are also benefiting from strong investor demand.

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by Thomas Grillo

 

Boston Business Journal - 09/05/2012 - In another sign that the nation’s housing market is recovering, the time it takes to sell a home is shrinking, according to the National Association of Realtors.

 

The median time a home was listed for sale was 69 days in July, down nearly 30 percent from 98 days in July 2011. NAR began tracking days on market in May of last year. From May through July of 2012 his year, market time averaged 70 days, down from 97 for the same period last year.

 

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