National Real Estate Market Update!

We love answering the question, "Hey guys, how's the market?"

The housing market continues its gradual recovery without the aid of the tax credit. Sales are slower but growing. Although it will likely be uneven at times, slow growth is believed to be the trend moving forward. This is as true in Spokane, Washington as anywhere.

Home Sales: The Good News

Home sales continued to rebound in September, increasing 10% compared to the previous month. This builds on August’s gain of 7.6% that followed a large drop caused by the expiration of the federal tax credit in July. Sales are expected to gradually grow as the market moves toward recovery without government stimulus. The recent foreclosure moratorium has opened up opportunities for short sales.

Although it could make the near-term “choppy at times,” industry experts expect the overall trend to continue growing slowly.

Home Price: It's All About Your Perspective

After four months of prices remaining on par with year-ago levels, September showed a slight decline. Last September distressed properties were 29% of all home sales; this September that number rose to 35%. *The larger proportion of distressed sales, which are typically discounted, helps to explain the decline.*

Housing Inventory: Important but Oft-Overlooked Indicator

There are fewer homes on the market again in September, representing 10.7 months of inventory. While still at a relatively high level, months of inventory shrank by nearly a month in September from August’s 11.6 and nearly two months since the 12.5-month supply in July. This continues to represent an excellent opportunity for buyers and investors who have not yet taken advantage of the abundant opportunities of the market including record low rates, an ample but shrinking selection of homes, and highly affordable prices.

Affordability

Housing remains at near-record affordability levels, and prospective home buyers stand to benefit from the lowest mortgage rates in decades, as well as advantageous home prices. Housing is approximately 60% more affordable now than during the height of the market.

Look for more updates about Boise real estate trends. Educate yourself and you'll be ahead of the game!


[Many thanks to Keller Williams and the National Association of Realtors for this information]

Keller Williams: Number One for Home Buyer Satisfaction!

J.D. Powers and Associates commissioned a benchmark study that "measures customer satisfaction of home buyers and sellers with the largest national real estate firms." Keller Williams ranks Number One is satisfaction for Home Buyers while Prudential earned that title for sellers. (Click here for the press release.)

“When buying a home, customers particularly appreciate agent professionalism, responsiveness to calls and e-mails and the agent’s skill in locating and showing properties in the appropriate price range—all areas in which Keller Williams excels,” said Jim Howland, senior director of the real estate and construction practice at J.D. Power and Associates.

The study also found that:

• Nearly one-half of respondents (46%) report using recommendations from family or friends to find their real estate agent. Approximately 28 percent used the Internet, while 23 percent used an agent they had used previously and 11 percent used a printed real estate guide.
  
• On average, home buyers were shown approximately 13 homes before making a purchase.
  
• Home sellers report that, on average, their home was shown approximately 11 times and approximately five open houses were conducted before the sale occurred.

It's too bad Keller Williams didn't rank #1 for both buyers and sellers, but where selling is concerned, follow through and marketing ability seem to vary widely from agent to agent, team to team.

If you'd like to see what our listing plan looks like, email our marketing director Katy and she'll send you a personalized copy: katy@spokanesbest.com

Putting the Pressure on Obama and McCain

Nearly half of all home buyers (44%) believe the housing market will improve once the new President takes office in January, 2009, according to a new survey recently released conducted by Harris Interactive® and commissioned by Move, Inc., operator of Realtor.com®.Forty-eight percent of women and 41 percent of men who plan to buy a home in the current market said they think the housing market will get better once the new President is in office.

It is not the idea that the housing market will "improve" that I'm scoffing at, but the confidence people put in an Office to help achieve it. On what grounds will the new Head of State help improve the real estate market? Start buying houses? Tell Congress what to do? Manhandle the FED? Good luck.

Read the whole article. There are some interesting stats about barriers home buyers report they're facing when considering a purchase.