“You Know a Housing Market’s Hot When . . .” I’ll occasionally get marketing pieces from agents active in Scottsdale, Florida, or other warm spots Minnesotans are known to congregate, especially in the (very) cold winter months. But, I don’t recall getting a pitch from someone based in Denver, soliciting referrals, like the one I got...Read More
10% Increase the Last Year? Not According to Agents According to the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index (“Case-Shiller”), the U.S. housing market is up about 10% the last year. However, if you ask in-the-trenches Realtors (like me), they’ll tell you the real number is lower — something like up 5%. Who’s right? Put is this way: it...Read More
Leading vs. Lagging Real Estate Indicators The headline news about the housing market this week was the latest Case-Shiller numbers: nationally, housing prices are up over 12% the last year. Meanwhile, closer to home (and in the trenches) . . . Twin Cities agents listing upper bracket homes (over $1.2 million) are bemoaning the lack...Read More
Twin Cities Up 10% Since May The just-released Case-Shiller index of housing prices in the 20 leading U.S. markets shows continuing improvement in August. Prices climbed in 19 markets, led by Detroit, up 2.27%; Seattle was the worst-performing market, essentially flat (off .06%). The Twin Cities ranked sixth, with an increase of 1.19%. Where the...Read More
The Ultimate Reality Test? Reality “And yet, it moves.” –What Galileo Galilei supposedly murmured on his death-bed, after being forced by the Church to recant his belief that the earth moves around the sun. What is the ultimate rebuttal to housing bears, who maintain that the housing market isn’t going up, but even if it is,...Read More
Stealth Factor: ‘% of Original List Price Received’ “Sellers received an average of 95% of their list price, up 3.6% from July, 2011 and well above the 88.3% seen in early 2011.” –“The Skinny“; August 10, 2012 While everyone focuses on “headline” gauges of home prices — indices compiled by Case-Shiller, MAAR, etc. — they’re...Read More
