Top 5 REALTOR® Updates | Week of July 20th
Check out these fives real estate updates to help you stay in-the-know with the latest happenings in our industry.
1. Top 10 U.S. cities for first-time homebuyers? Three are in Colorado
In a new list of the top cities that are best for first-time home buyers, three of the top 10 are located in Colorado. Centennial ranked No. 3, Longmont ranked No. 9 and Thornton ranked No. 10 in WalletHub's "2015’s Best and Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers." Other Colorado cities making the list included Arvada (No. 13), Colorado Springs (No. 15), Westminster (No. 19), Greeley (No. 21), Fort Collins (No. 30), Aurora (No. 45), Lakewood (No. 64), Denver (No. 72), Pueblo (No. 83), Boulder (No. 116). Read More...
2. Top Housing Markets for First-Time Buyers (see which Colorado cities made the cut!)
The number of first-time home buyers is on the rise, reaching a 32 percent share of existing-home sales in May – the highest since September 2012, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Which cities hold some of the best deals for first-time buyers? WalletHub recently compared 300 U.S. cities to find the most favorable housing markets for first-time home buyers. Researchers analyzed markets for 18 key metrics, ranging from housing costs to property taxes and crime rates. In the study, large cities had populations of more than 300,000 people; midsize cities had populations of 150,000 to 300,000; and small cities had a population of fewer than 150,000. Read More...
3. Existing-Home Sales Rise in June as Home Prices Surpass July 2006 Peak
Existing-home sales increased in June to their highest pace in over eight years, while the cumulative effect of rising demand and limited supply helped push the national median sales price to an all-time high, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. All major regions experienced sales gains in June and have now risen above year-over-year levels for six consecutive months. Sales are now at their highest pace since February 2007 (5.79 million), have increased year-over-year for nine consecutive months and are 9.6 percent above a year ago (5.01 million). Read More...
4. Buyer Competition Steepens in Tight Markets
Some markets with particularly tight inventories of for-sale homes are seeing a significant uptick in bidding wars that are sending prices far beyond a property’s original list price. Debord, who is also the state director of Seattle King County REALTORS®, says that institutional investors often bid the most aggressively and get the higher-priced deals. But traditional buyers are involved in many of these bidding wars too, he says. And they're increasingly finding themselves up against deep-pocketed investors for the same house. Read More...
5. Are More New Homes on the Horizon? The Commerce Department Says Yes
We need more inventory. That would be the easiest solution to our nation’s high-priced housing problem. So the news from the Commerce Department on Friday morning is sounding good: In June 2015, privately owned housing starts rose 9.8% above May’s numbers. “An increasing level of new construction is the primary way that the housing market will find balance in this surging demand but tight supply environment,” says our chief economist Jonathan Smoke. While the report covers permits, starts, and completions, we shouldn’t put too much faith in the numbers, says Smoke. Read More...
