by The KCM Crew on February 28, 2017 in First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, Housing Market Updates, Move-Up Buyers

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) keeps historical data on many aspects of homeownership. One of the data points that has changed dramatically is the median tenure of a family in a home. As the graph below shows, for over twenty years (1985-2008), the median tenure averaged exactly six years. However, since 2008, that average is almost nine years – an increase of almost 50%.

Why the dramatic increase?

The reasons for this change are plentiful!

The fall in home prices during the housing crisis left many homeowners in a negative equity situation (where their home was worth less than the mortgage on the property). Also, the uncertainty of the economy made . . .

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by The KCM Crew on February 6, 2017 in For Buyers, For Sellers, Housing Market Updates

The housing crisis is finally in the rear-view mirror as the real estate market moves down the road to a complete recovery. Home values are up. Home sales are up. Distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) have fallen dramatically. It seems that 2017 will be the year that the housing market races forward again.

However, there is one thing that may cause the industry to tap the brakes: a lack of housing inventory. While buyer demand looks like it will remain strong throughout the winter, supply is not keeping up.

Here are the thoughts of a few industry experts on the subject: National Association of Realtors

“Total housing inventory at the end of December dropped 10.8%...which is the lowest level since NAR . . .

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by The KCM Crew on January 27, 2017 in First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, For Sellers, Housing Market Updates, Move-Up Buyers

Highlights: 5.45 million existing homes were sold in 2016! This is the highest mark set since 2006.Inventory of existing homes for sale dropped to a 3.6-month supply, the lowest level since NAR began tracking in 1999.The median price of homes sold in December was $232,200. This is the 58th consecutive month of year-over-year price gains. . . .

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by The KCM Crew on December 12, 2016 in For Buyers, For Sellers, Housing Market Updates, Pricing

Today, many real estate conversations center on housing prices and where they may be headed. That is why we like the Home Price Expectation Survey.

Every quarter, Pulsenomics surveys a nationwide panel of over one hundred economists, real estate experts, and investment & market strategists about where they believe prices are headed over the next five years. They then average the projections of all 100+ experts into a single number.

The results of their latest survey:

Home values will appreciate by 4.0% over the course of 2017, 3.2% in 2018 and 3.0% the next three years (as shown below). That means the average annual appreciation will be 3.24% over the next 5 years.

The prediction for . . .

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by The KCM Crew on November 7, 2016 in For Sellers, Housing Market Updates

We all realize that the best time to sell anything is when demand is high and the supply of that item is limited. The last two major reports issued by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed information that suggests that now continues to be a great time to sell your house.

Let’s look at the data covered by the latest Pending Home Sales Report and Existing Home Sales Report.

THE PENDING HOME SALES REPORT

The report announced that pending home sales (homes going into contract) are up 2.4% over last year, and have increased year-over-year now for 22 of the last 25 consecutive months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR’s Chief Economist, had this to say:

"The one major . . .

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