Selected Real Estate News Headlines

 

The following are selected headlines that are indicative of changes and activity in the real estate market at the national, state and local level. They are posted here as reminders because they may influence your thinking as you make decisions on whether to buy or sell real estate in the short or medium term.

 

  • MarketWatch 8/31/10: "Home prices rose 1.0% in June compared with May in 20 major U.S. cities, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's."
  • Commercial Record 8/24/10: "Sales of previously owned U.S. homes took a record drop in July to their lowest pace in 15 years, suggesting further loss of momentum in the economic recovery."
  • Commercial Record 8/10/2010: "GHAR [Greater Hartford Association of Realtors] data shows marked slowdown in July home sales [in the Greater Hartford Area]"...."New listings rose 5.62 percent [from July 2009]"..."The median sale price increased more than 4 percent ... the average days a home spent on the market increased 16 percent (to 72 days from 62)..."  "Year to date GHAR data shows an increase in closed home sales by slightly more than 5 percent...."  

  • Commercial Record 7/9/2010:  "Sales of single-family homes in Connecticut surged 39 percent in May, posting the sharpest increase in sales year-over-year for the month of May in more than two decades, according to the latest report by The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record."

    WSJ/Marketwatch 05/25/10: "Home prices fell 0.5% in March compared with February in 20 major U.S. cities, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's. However, prices were up 2.3% in the past year, the second consecutive gain."
  • Hartford Courant 05/05/10: "House prices in CT jumped 8.1 % in March.....Although the overall market gained in March, the recovery remained uneven across Connecticut's eight counties. Sales rose in all but Tolland County...but prices fell in three counties:-- Middlesex, Tolland and Windham"
  • WSJ 04/22/10: "Existing-home sales rose 6.8% in March, slightly more than economists had expected, to a 5.35 million annual rate. First-time buyers purchased 44% of all homes, lured by the government's tax-credit program. The supply of unsold homes fell to eight months, down from 8.5 in February."
  • Hartford Courant 03/02/10: "As the housing market tries to bounce off the bottom, results across the state varied greatly in January. ....January 2008 compared with January 2009...Hartford County -4.7%... Tolland County 0.0% ... Windham County +6.0%....."
  • MarketWatch/WSJ 02/19/10: "Beginning of the end for housing crisis? Delinquency rate and foreclosure starts drop. loans in foreclosure hit new high. ...possible signs that the foreclosure crisis that has gripped many of the nations's housing markets if finally starting to ease..."
  • Hartford Courant 01/09/10: "...the chief of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, speaking in Hartford Friday, says he expects mortgage rates to incrase by as much as three quarters of a percentage point in the coming months as a result of the Fed's ending a program that supports the housing market."
  • Wall Street Journal 12/22/09: " U.S. Home Resales Rise 7.4% Sales of previously owned homes rose in November more than expected as low prices and tax relief helped buyers surmount worries about the job market."
  • Wall Street Journal 11/23/09: "Home resales leaped up in October, rising far more than expected as a fat tax credit offset fears about joblessness. Sales of existing homes increased by 10.1% to a 6.10 million annual rate from 5.54 million in September, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Inventories kept shrinking. Prices fell, but the NAR said the decline was the smallest in more than a year."
  • *Wall Street Journal 11/09/09: "Home prices continued to decline across the nation as sales of heavily discounted foreclosed properties weighed down the market"....Still, home sales rose 11.4% nationwide to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.3 million units during the third quarter, up from 4.76 million units in the second quarter".
  • Commercial Record 10/02/09: "Single-family home sales in Connecticut continued their climb in August, but median sales prices took another double-digit hit."
  • Wall Street Journal 10/23/09: "Existing-home sales increased by 9.4% to a 5.57 million annual rate in September as buyers grabbed lower prices and a tax credit about to vanish. The median price for an existing home last month was $174,900, a drop of 8.5% from a year earlier. An $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers also has helped push up sales."
  • Wall Street Journal 08/26/09: "WASHINGTON -- New-home sales climbed more than anticipated in July, staging their fourth straight month of strong gains to add to evidence that the housing market is emerging from its long slump."
  • Wall Street Journal 08/21/09: "Existing-Home sales rise 7.2%: "Existing-home sales rose to their highest level in nearly two years from June to July as cheaper prices and the availability of tax credits continued to entice buyers. Home resales rose more than expected, bouncing 7.2% -- the highest month-over-month percentage increase in more than a decade -- to a seasonally adjusted 5.24 million annual rate, the National Association of Realtors said. Foreclosures and short sales reflect 31% of sales in July. The median price for an existing home last month was $178,400, a 15.1% decrease from July 2008.
  • Wall Street Journal 07/27/09: "New-Home Sales Jumped 11% in June from May New-home sales soared in June from the previous month..."... the housing market is beginning to recover from its long crisis."..."... year over year, new-home sales were 21.3% lower than the level in June 2008."..."The median price for a new home vs $206,200 in June, down 12.0% from $234,300 in June 2008"..."It appears new home sales reached a bottom in January, ... and that the market is beginning to recover slowly".
  • Wall Street Journal 07/23/09: "Existing home sales rose again from the previous month..." ..."Home resales rose more than expected, by 3.6% to a 4.89 million annual rate..."..."Regionally, sales in June compared to May grew 2.5% in the Northeast..."