howard sumner: Market update at glance April 2012
- 05/05/12 05:09 AM
Another month and a third of the way through 2012. The market is moving faster than what I expected, I truly believed that it would take till late summer to have the improvement in numbers that we are seeing. All the numbers are stand outs, so I will comment first on price movement. When you look at the both the average and median selling price it appears the market is really making a movement and it has, yet not quite as big as it appears on the surface the “REAL APPRECIATION” YEAR OVER YEAR BASED BOTH ON PRICE AND SIZE IS (1 comments)
Here we are at the end of the March, ending the first quarter. Time flies when you are having fun, the first two months behaved like I expected, pretty much a slog, then March came. It behaved like someone turned on the faucet. The market has gone from where buyers definitely had the upper hand in negotiations to a balance in the market place, where neither buyer nor sellers have more power. The first thing that happens as this change takes place, buyers resist, and continue along the same path of low offers and asking for the world, only with (0 comments)
howard sumner: national new home construction comparisons
- 03/23/12 11:25 PM
To start I thought it might be useful to give some context to new construction as compared to other industries or measures we might look at and where the other bench marks or measurements would be if they had “recovered” as much as new construction. I use the percentage drop of new construction from the 50 year average (approximately 48%) instead of the drop from the peak (approximately 68%) to make the comparisons less dramatic and even doing that I believe the numbers are stunning
Dow average peak 14,164 current 13,046 drop from peak using new construction, the dow (1 comments)
howard sumner: forclosures and the market
- 03/21/12 01:43 AM
A little perspective is always a good thing to try and sort reality from fiction. Right now nationally resale’s of existing homes are running in the 4.8 million category that is with interest rates that make it pretty close as cheap to own as it is to rent. The second is, news on the foreclosure front touting how much it has dropped as the saying goes “figures don’t lie but liars figure” So the thought to ponder, with about 3.8 million homes either 90 days late or in foreclosure which is about 88% higher than “normal” (ignoring all the delinquent less (0 comments)
howard sumner: market update at glance febyary 2012
- 03/06/12 02:30 AM
HERE WE ARE ROARING THROUGH 2012. TWO MONTHS GONE AND TWO MONTHS OF WINTER WITH JUST SOME COOL WEATHER, NOTHING LIKE THE LAST TWO WINTERS IN TERMS OF SNOW. INTEREST RATES ABOUT AT 3.89% FOR A 30 YEAR FIXED RATE MORTGAGE, 20% BELOW LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME; THOSE TWO THINGS COMBINED ARE SHOWING UP IN THE HOME SALES IN YELLOWSTONE COUNTY. CLOSED SALES AT A NICE CLIP ABOVE 2011, IN THE FIRST TWO MONTHS, ALTHOUGH I WOULD CONSIDER IT A BIT OF MISS MATCH OF A COMPARISON WITH THE FACTORS MENTIONED ABOVE. THE REAL BRIGHT SPOT IS THE DECREASE IN (0 comments)
howard sumner: New home contruction Natioanlly end of the year 2011
- 01/30/12 12:20 AM
When reviewing the information about new construction whether permits, starts, or sales, if as many talking heads profess, that housing is “recovering” why are all categories 52 to 59% off the fifty year averages and down 72 to 76% from the peaks. And construction employment has dropped from 8,045,000 million people employed to 5,436,000 million people employed. The question i have to ask myself, if you go from no pulse in intensive care to a pulse are “recovering” or just not dead.
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howard sumner: year end review 2011
- 01/10/12 03:32 AM
2011 END OF THE YEAR REPORT THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE DIRECTION MY FIRST COMMENT ABOUT 2011 IS, I AM GLAD IT IS IN TH REAR VIEW MIRROR. MY BELIEF IS 2011 GOES INTO THE RECORD BOOKS AS THE LOW POINT IN REAL ESTATE UNIT SALES AND MOST PROBABLY PRICING IN THIS REAL CYCLE IN YELLOWSTONE COUNTY. THAT BEING SAID THAT DOES NOT MEAN A BOUNCE IN 2012. WHAT IT MEANS IS, MOST PROBABLY, STABILITY WITH A BIAS TOWARDS AN UPWARD MOVEMENT. THE MOST DIFFICULT ASPECT OF 2011 WAS THE FINANCING ARENA, ALTHOUGH RATES ARE INCREDIBLE, THE HOOPS TO JUMP THROUGH (0 comments)
howard sumner: Housing constuction zooms?
- 12/20/11 01:29 AM
Here is the headline from yahoo financial news Housing Starts Surge to 1.5 Year High, Futures Rally Here are the actual numbers--- whom is trying to sell what to whom ? ---- swamp land comes to mind (3 comments)
howard sumner: national home sales
- 12/06/11 11:18 PM
The national association of realtors has acknowledged that they have actually overstated home sales. They have also stated they are in the process of revising their methodology in coming up with their figures and will restate their “estimates” in the “near” future. To give you an idea of how their restatement may look here is an estimate of sales then two graphs on show the numbers below and one showing new single family sales to give a visual and actual bench mark for comparisons
Here is new single family sales as a bench mark comparison for you to decide (0 comments)
howard sumner: Market update at glance november 2011
- 12/05/11 08:04 AM
The market positives inventory down and number of sales is closing the gap on 2010, prices are down about 3% year over year same time period.My belief is 2011 will go down as the low point in the market place this cycle and by the end of the 1st quarter we should be seeing year overyear increase in sales and at the minimum stable prices. this should help give both buyers and sellers confidence which will improve market conditions from both perspectives. (0 comments)