BuildZoom’s residential construction and remodeling indices showed:
- New-home permit activity in the U.S. remains 60.7 percent below 2005 levels.
- In contrast, activity in the remodeling industry (by permits pulled) has fully recovered from the housing bust and is 3.4 percent above its 2005 level.
- Four of the nation’s five largest metros have seen noticeable year-over-year improvement in new-home construction; however, these levels still significantly trail activity seen in 2005.
Auction.com’s July existing-home sales predictions were revised to show:
- Auction.com has revised its July existing-home sales projections and now expects roughly 5.57 million annual home transactions.
- The revision represents a 1.4 percent increase from June — a more modest increase than initially forecasted.
- It also represents a decline of 100,000 sales in comparison to the initial July forecast of 5.67 million.
Dan Geller’s Money Anxiety Index showed:
- Compared to the beginning of this year, consumers are less financially stressed, which bodes well for home sales activity moving forward.
- Consumer anxiety dropped by 0.1 point to 66.9 in August.
- The main reasons for the decline in financing anxiety are the improving labor market, the prospect of future employment in higher-paying jobs and a rise in current earnings.
Quicken’s Home Price Perception Index showed:
- Homeowners think their homes should be valued higher than appraisers do.
- Appraiser opinions of home values were 2.33 percent lower than homeowner estimates in July.
- National housing values were nearly flat in July, with a 0.27 percent drop in value month over month.
NAR’s quarterly report showed:
- NAR said single-family home prices increased in 93 percent of markets during the second quarter.
- Nineteen metro areas saw double-digit increases in the second quarter.
- The average supply during 2Q was 5.1 months, a decrease from the 5.5 months NAR reported in 2Q 2014.
CoreLogic’s foreclosure inventory report showed:
- Foreclosure inventory dropped by 28.9 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 14.8 percent between June 2014 and June 2015.
- The foreclosure rate of 1.2 percent is the lowest since December 2007.
- June also posted the lowest serious delinquency rate seen in some time.
Coldwell Banker Real Estate and CNET’s smart home survey showed:
- 81 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to buy a home if smart technology were already installed.
- Smart home technology is most often utilized in the living room, followed by the bedroom, family/recreation room and kitchen.
- Smart home technology is saving owners an average of $98.30 per month, which equates to more than $1,100 a year.
The Mortgage Bankers Association Weekly Applications Survey showed:
- Mortgage applications increased only 0.1 percent from last week.
- FHA and USDA applications both decreased, but VA applications saw a slight increase.
- Mortgage applications for existing homes have been somewhat flat for about two months, according to MBA’s weekly surveys.
Trulia’s listing data study showed:
- States that don’t have good, consistent school systems have more listings containing the word “school.”
- Orange County, California, led the way, with 27.6 percent of listings mentioning schools.
- Only 1 percent of all U.S. homes for sale on Trulia during the 12-month period analyzed were described as being near a “good” school.
The Institute of Real Estate Management’s apartment manager study showed:
- Marketing leasable space is considerably more important to apartment managers than overseers of office buildings.
- More than 80 percent of apartment managers ranked marketing and leasing functions as an “important” or “very important” aspect of operations.
- Hiring, staffing and employee engagement/retention is also more important for apartment managers, as employee turnover tends to be higher in the industry.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s new-home applications survey showed:
- Mortgage applications for newly built homes are decreasing; new-home applications fell by 4 percent month over month.
- On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimated there were 44,000 new-home sales in July, a decrease of 2.2 percent from June’s 45,000 sales.
- New single-family home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 534,000 units last month, an increase of 7.7 percent from June’s pace of 496,000 units.
RealtyTrac’s loan origination report showed:
- Total loan origination volume reached its highest level in two years.
- More than 1.95 million loans, worth $540 billion, were created for single-family homes and condos during the second quarter of 2015.
- This equates to a 23 percent increase in origination volume when compared to the second quarter of 2014. It also represents a 22 percent rise in loan activity from the first quarter of this year.
Move’s “hottest” ZIP codes index showed:
- Most of the “hottest” ZIP codes for housing encompass submarkets or suburbs of larger metros.
- 02176 in Melrose, Massachusetts — a submarket of Boston — is the hottest ZIP for housing in the nation.
- The rankings are determined by the time it takes properties to sell and the frequency in which homes are viewed in each ZIP code.
Zillow’s rent vs. own survey showed:
- Escalating rent prices are eating up a significant portion of renters’ income.
- Renters can expect to spend 30 percent of their income on rent — the highest percentage we have seen to date.
- Buyers can expect to spend 15 percent of their monthly income on a monthly mortgage payment.
The FNC Residential Price Index showed:
- The average U.S. home price increased by 3.5 percent in the second quarter of 2015 when compared to the first quarter.
- During the second quarter, 12 metro areas experienced overall price growth of 4 percent or more.
- Only one market out of the 30 analyzed by FNC witnessed quarter-over-quarter depreciation: Baltimore.
Email market updates to press@inman.com.
