For many buyer's, one of the most frustrating aspects of today's housing market has been contending with widespread buyer reluctance. Some homeowners who have witnessed large drops in their home equity values are understandably concerned. But countless other potential home buyers are dragging their feet simply because they've heard so much, for so long, about soft real estate markets.
How do you contend with this? In pact, the answer lies in developing a better understanding of what's really occurring-not just in your own local area, but also on the national level or in the specific area that are more prone to grabbing the national spotlight. Once you've educated yourself on how to interpret the data, it really boils down to education your buyers, so they can look at the decision to buy a home from a vantage point of an informed consumer.
KEEPING UP ON MARKET DEVELOPMENTS:
As you may already know, NAR Research collects and publishes a vast amount of data. So Much, in fact, that its easy to be overwhelmed by what's available and miss a significant nugget of information.
SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ONGOING DATA SERIES:
PRICE: Median sales prices are available for existing single-family homes and condos. National and regional data is released monthly,with more detailed reporting quarterly by state and metropolitan statistical areas.
PENDING SALES: A leading indicator of housing activity, released monthly. The index is derived from pending sales of existing homes, meaning the contract has been signed, but the transaction has not yet closed.
AFFORDABILITY INDEX:National data is published monthly and quarterly,with quarterly releases also available for first-time home buyers.
Comments(2)