April New-Home Sales Rise
Sales of new single-family homes rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000, according to data released this morning by the U.S. Commerce Department. This is 42.0 percent below the estimate of 907,000 from April of last year. The median sale price of a new home increased 1.5 percent from [...]
April Existing-Home Sales Fall, Inventory Rises
Existing-home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units in April, which is 1.0 percent below the 4.94 million units in March and 17.5 percent below the 5.93 million-unit level a year ago, NAR announced this morning. The median existing-home price in April was $202,300, down 8.0 percent from April 2007. [...]
The Ever Rosy National Association of Realtors
In my last few posts I have been going after some local journalists for not localizing their real estate articles. Well, today I am going after one of my own, Mr. Lawrence Chen, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors. In a recent statement, Mr. Chen denied we are facing a national recession. I [...]
Foreclosures Continue to Rise in April
Foreclosure filings increased 4 percent in April from the previous month and were up 65 percent compared to April 2007, according to a report released this morning by RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosure properties. The 243,353 foreclosure filings that were reported in April — including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — [...]
Another deceiving real estate article…come on people! A little research!
Oh boy. Why is it that local reporters continue to look at the real estate glass as half empty rather than half full? Actually, I think journalists have perfected the art of bad news, even when it doesn’t exist. Take the recent Boston Herald article about the pending sale of Dr. John Meola’s stunning Weston [...]
Close-out SALE at The Modern South End
The developers of The Modern in the South End have canceled the auction for the remaining ten units that was scheduled for this Sunday. Instead, they will be offering a close-out sale price for offers received by Sunday. Word on the real estate street says that the developers are considering leasing unsold units and pushing [...]
Making the situation look far worse than it is
The relationship between the mass media and local journalism is an interesting animal. I noticed that when the major papers write about national real estate woes and economic conditions, many of our local journalists seem to think that they can just localize the headline and ignore the numbers. Real Estate is not that simple and [...]
House passes massive homeowner rescue plan, defying Bush veto threat
Yahoo! Finance reports today that the Democratic-controlled House, on Thursday, passed a homeowner rescue plan that would provide cheaper, government-backed mortgages to half a million debt-ridden borrowers and bolster an economy crippled by the housing crisis. Opponents of the plan say more prudent home buyers and renters shouldn’t be called upon to bail out borrowers [...]
Milton, Mass. made it to CNN Money’s top 10 Best Places to live
As every year, CNN Money prepares a list of the 100 best places to live in the US. This year’s list focused on smaller places that offered the best combination of economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do and a real sense of community. Milton, MA made it to number 7 in the [...]
CNN Money: 10 Markets Set For Steep Losses
The worst isn’t over for Miami, Phoenix, and hard hit areas of California, which are forecast to see big price drops in the next 12 months, according to Money Magazine. Here are the top 3: Miami, FL: -29.9% Fort Lauderdale, FL: -22.2% Orland, FL: -20% Boston was not on the list…
