Monday, March 19, 2012

Real Estate Market Gradually Improves

1. MLIVE -- "Michigan home sales surged 14% in February compared to one year earlier, while the average sale price dropped nearly 3%, according to data from the Michigan Association of Realtors (MAR).

 An improved economy and low interest rates have boosted Michigan’s housing market after years of turmoil. There were 8,284 homes sold in February, up 14% from 7,245 sold in February 2011, according to MAR. A 14% increase is “pretty remarkable,” said Bill Martin, CEO of the trade group."

2. DQ News -- An estimated 29,630 new and resale houses and condos were sold across California last month. That was up 5.4% from 28,111 in January, and up 8.5% from 27,320 in February 2011.  Last month's sales were the strongest for a February since 31,228 homes were sold in 2007. On a year-over-year basis, sales have increased the past seven months.

3. DQ News -- "A total of 5,702 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area in February. That was up 4.1% from 5,479 in January, and up 14.2% from 4,991 in February 2011. The year-over-year sales increase was the eighth in a row. Last month’s sales count, which got a lift from an extra business day thanks to the leap year, was the highest for a February since 6,305 were sold in 2007.

4. Over the last six months, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF is up by about 50% compared to about an 18% gain for the S&P500 Index.

5.  The U.S. homebuilder outlook was unchanged this month, but remained near a 4-year high. 

2 Comments:

At 3/20/2012 11:04 AM, Blogger bart said...

The most recent DQ home prices have dropped about 3% YoY... and the median home has dropped from ~!$180k
to ~$170k since Jan 1st.

 
At 3/21/2012 2:00 PM, Blogger John said...

There are around 30,000 licensed real estate agents in Michigan. With 8,400 sales, just over 1 in 4 agents realized a sale in last month. That's just 3 sales in a calendar year, on average. That will buy you a lot of macaroni and cheap cheese.

 

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