About 43 percent of real estate professionals and 48 percent of home owners say they expect home values to mostly stay flat over the next six months, according to HomeGain’s 4th Quarter 2011 National Home Values survey, based on a survey of 400 real estate agents and brokers and more than 2,000 home owners.
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Nearly 80 percent of home buyers say now is a great time to buy a home, but sellers say it’s not a great time to sell, according to a new study, “The Great Recession and Attitudes Toward Homebuying,” released this week by the Mortgage Bankers Association. In fact, homeselling sentiment has fallen to record lows.
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Russian billionaire Dmitriy Rybolovlev is reportedly paying the full asking price of $88 million for a New York City condo for his 22-year-old daughter, considered the highest individual transaction ever recorded in New York City, according to Forbes.
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The “shadow inventory” — properties that are in foreclosure limbo and have not yet come to light on banks’ balance sheets — has fallen slightly over the last year. Shadow inventory as of October 2011, the latest data available, stood at 1.6 million units or a 5-month supply. In October 2010, shadow inventory was at 1.9 million, or a seven-month supply, CoreLogic reports. A one-month supply of shadow inventory is considered more healthy for the housing market, a level that hasn’t been seen in years.
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Economic growth, an improving job picture, greater consumer spending, and slight improvements in the housing market are all recent indicators that 2011 is ending on a much brighter note, Fannie Mae reports in its fourth-quarter report.
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Existing-home sales rose again in November and remain above a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Also released today were periodic benchmark revisions with downward adjustments to sales and inventory data since 2007, led by a decline in for-sale-by-owners.
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