Pending Home Sales Make History

December 2, 2009

Not a Precise Estimate of “Actual” Sales When a home seller accepts a contract on an MLS-listed property, the property’s status changes from “Active” to “Pending”. This means the home is scheduled to sell, but not yet sold. Each month, the National Association of Realtors® tallies the number of pending homes and publishes the data as the Pending […]

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Real Estate Predictions for Des Moines in 2010

December 2, 2009

What’s The Real Estate Market Doing? Do you ever wonder how our real estate market is here in Des Moines? Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time listening to how rough things are in other cities around the country, but too often we don’t really consider what our real estate climate is like. I’m a […]

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New Home Supply Falls Again

December 1, 2009

Supply & Demand The supply of newly-built homes fell to its lowest levels since 2006, offering additional proof of a housing market in recovery. Home supply is defined as the amount of time it would take to sell the current inventory of homes at the current pace of sales. In October, for the 8th consecutive month, home supplies […]

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Rates Won’t Stay This Low Long

November 30, 2009

Is the Stimulus Working? This week, those beliefs could be shaken to the core — specifically because of Friday’s jobs report. It’s no secret that the economy is growing.  Housing is improving, banks are re-capitalizing, and businesses are making capital investment.  However, employment is lagging. More than 4 million jobs have been lost this year […]

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Last Week Ended with Improved Mortgage Rates

November 30, 2009

Rates Continue to Fall Even as the U.S. Dollar Weakens Mortgage markets improved last week on stronger-than-expected economic data and safe haven buying. The holiday-shortened trading week amplified what should have been modest gains into large ones. Conforming mortgage rates dropped by about a quarter-percent last week, dropping them near their best levels of the […]

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Home Values Are Back On the Rise

November 25, 2009

Home Prices Are No Longer in Free Fall According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Home Price Index posted its first quarterly increase since 2007 last quarter. The news was reported Tuesday. The Home Price Index is an interesting metric.  It’s huge in its scope, accounting for every home sold in the country that backs a […]

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Des Moines Shows Largest Jump in Sales Over Last Year

November 25, 2009

What’s The Real Estate Market Doing? Do you ever wonder how our real estate market is here in Des Moines? Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time listening to how rough things are in other cities around the country, but too often we don’t really consider what our real estate climate is like. I’m a […]

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Existing Home Sales Continue to Rise

November 24, 2009

Home Inventories Haven’t Been This Low in Nearly 3 Years Another month, another piece of evidence that the housing market is in recovery. Existing Home Sales surged in October as the nation’s homebuyers took advantage of low mortgage rates, low list prices, and, for some, a generous tax credit. Home resales are 23 percent higher versus a […]

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Black Friday Has a Lot to do With Rates This Week

November 23, 2009

Lock in Your Rate, This Could Be a Bumpy Week This week, though, because a heavy data calendar is combining with a holiday-shortened trading week, rates aren’t likely to stay as tame. Monday: Existing Home Sales Tuesday: Consumer Confidence, Home Price Index, Fed Minutes Wednesday: New Home Sales, Personal Income and Outlays Each of these data […]

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A Mildly Stable Week for Mortgage Rates

November 23, 2009

Rates Rose For the First Time in a Month Mortgage markets worsened last week on a mixed bag of economic data.  Inflation data came in soft, but so did the start of the holiday shopping season. For the first time in a month, mortgage rates worsened last week, adding roughly 0.125 percent on conforming fixed-rate products, […]

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