Real estate investment trusts, or REITs for short, are investment vehicles used by businesses and individuals to invest in a diversified group of real estate assets. The investment vehicle is similar to more well-known investment options known as mutual funds. In simple terms, REITs are the mutual funds of real estate and can therefore give us a good sense of the trend in home prices and mortgages. (more…)
It is starting to look more and more like the housing market is bottoming in many areas. As part of our continuous tracking of the housing and mortgage market, we look at three important measures of the health of a given area’s real estate market (more…)
In the mid-2000s we saw what some might call the golden age of housing. In some places, such as coastline states like California or Florida, home prices appreciated as much as 30% in one year. In other areas of the nation, such as Texas and other natural resource rich states, home prices did not experience the steep run-up like California, but instead experienced steady home price appreciation with little home price depreciation when the housing market dropped. (more…)
The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index figures came out this week. On the whole, the national home price index was up 2.2 percent over the prior month (seasonally adjusted basis) and increased 0.7 percent over the prior year. For the first time since the onset of the recession, home prices in all 20 covered statistical areas increased over the prior month. Additionally, on a year over year basis, 12 of the 20 areas are now above water. (more…)
Are fence-sitters losing out? Is it finally the right time to become a buyer in the housing market?
In the past week the market digested five housing market indicators – the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Housing Market Index, the MBA Mortgage Index, the Census Bureau’s Housing Starts and Building Permits, and the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Existing Home Sales. (more…)