My Real Estate Blog

The housing market continues to keep experts and analysts on their toes.

While existing-home sales rose again in January and are outpacing year-ago levels, we are still seeing a drop in home prices across much the country. 

Here in the DC Metro, sales are up 14% over a year ago.  The number of listings are virtually the same, but the number of settlements are up 14.2% which means the inventory is disappearing!

Existing-home sales increased 2.7% in January and are 5.3% above January of 2010.

The uptrend in home sales is consistent with improvements in the economy and jobs, which are helping boost consumer confidence.  The extremely favorable housing affordability conditions are a big factor, but buyers have been constrained by unnecessarily tight credit. As a result, there are abnormally high levels of all-cash purchases, along with rising investor activity.

Regionally, the West saw the largest existing-home sales increase. In the West they rose 7.9% and are 7.0% above January 2010. The Midwest and South also saw monthly rises up 1.8%  and 3.6% respectively.

Realty Trac reports that 26% of all homes sold in 2010 were foreclosures and short sales. The states with the largest percent of distressed sales were Nevada, at 57% of all sales; Arizona, at 49%; California, 44%; and Florida 36%.   Here in Arlington, short sales make up only .3% of active listings.

New reports from the Labor Department indicate that jobless claims fells again last week. It is now at the lowest levels since late July 2008.