Posts from — November 2009

Fall Housing Market Update:

Sales of “used homes” account for about 75% – 85% of overall transactions in any given month.

* Sales surged 9.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units in September from 5.09 million in August. That was twice the gain that was expected, and it left sales running at the highest level since July 2007.

* Single-family sales gained 9.4%, while condo and cooperative sales rose 9.7%. By region, sales climbed across the board, with the Northeast bringing up the rear at +4.4% and the West leading at +13%.

* The raw number of homes for sale dropped 7.5%to 3.63 million units from 3.92 million in August. Supply was down 15% from a year earlier. That helped push the “month’s supply at current sales pace” indicator of inventory down to 7.8 from 9.3. That’s still higher than the 5-6 month range that’s considered “normal.” But it’s a significant improvement from the double-digit readings we were seeing.

* Pricing is still weak, with the median price of an existing home down 8.5% year-over-year to $174,900. But as any good housing analyst will tell you: Pricing lags sales and supply.

The resale of houses in September rose 9.5%, the largest monthly increase in 26 years. 

This is partly because buyers are rushing to close the deal on their homes before the tax-credit for first time homebuyers expires. This number amazed many experts because it significantly beat Wall Street forecasts.

“There’s a mini-boom going on in the housing market,” said Thomas Popik, who conducts a monthly survey of real estate agents for Campbell Communications, a research firm.

The inventory of unsold homes on the market fell about 7% to 3.63 million. That’s less than an eight-month supply at the current sales pace, and the lowest level since March 2007.

Ad Age, the go-to magazine for the advertising industry, featured the Coldwell Banker YouTube channel “On Location” in an article touting untraditional ways of reaching the consumer!

The article reads:

“Big name marketers such as Procter & Gamble, Best Buy, MasterCard and Coldwell Banker are among those who have taken matters into their own hands by creating content and bringing it straight to the consumer.”

Obviously, Coldwell Banker is keeping great company!  The full article can be read at http://adage.com/article?article_id=139864. Your sales associates will find the recognition called out on the homepage of coldwellbankerworks.com.

Fortunately there has been some very positive news about the recovery of our economy.  The US economy has grown at an impressive 3.5% in the third quarter of 2009. 

This is the best improvement in our economy in two years.  Much of this economic growth was fueled by the government supported spending on cars and homes. 

This welcome milestone is just another step, and we still have a long road to travel until the economy is fully recovered,” said Christina Romer, President Barack Obama’s chief economist. “It will take sustained, robust … growth to bring the unemployment rate down substantially. Such a decline in unemployment is, of course, what we are all working to achieve.”

Consumer spending is rising as Americans are becoming more and more confident.  Consumer spending on big manufactured goods soared 22.3%  in the third quarter, which is the most since 2001.