Real Estate Market Reports

What’s the real estate market up to?

Real Estate Home Sales Are Hot! What’s Up for the Rest of 2018?

What’s driving today’s real estate trends? Driven by low home inventory, new home sales are hot, with sales rising 6.7% in May despite extraordinarily high selling prices. This tops the far more conservative estimate of a 0.9% increase expected by economists at the Wall Street Journal.

Have We Surpassed Elevated Levels Seen Before the 07-09 Mortgage Crisis?

New home sales still remain well beyond such levels, and are up 14.1% compared to new home sales last May.

What Areas are Seeing the Greatest Growth?

Sales in the South are driving last month’s numbers, with the region experiencing a 17.9% increase in new home sales. Elsewhere in the Midwest, May sales were flat, and in the Northeast and Northwest, new home sales declined.

Will this Trend in New Home Sales Continue?

Expectations of single-family home sales by builders fell two-points in June according to the recent NAHB housing market index. Further economic growth, the creation of more jobs, and a solid housing demand, however, are expected to spur construction of more single-family homes in the months ahead.

What About Pre-Owned Homes?

Compared to sales in the first 4-5 months last year, 2018 sales of pre-owned homes have remained neutral.

How are Complications in the Sales Arena Playing a Role?

It’s commonly seen in real estate trends for low inventory to inflate prices, driving buyers out of the market, and we’ve been seeing that for quite some time now. But this isn’t the only factor complicating purchases. Mortgage interest rates rose to 4.59% in May, up more than half a point from January’s 4.03%. Labor is scarce, and lumber prices at record-highs, adding almost $9,000 to the cost of new single family homes since January of 2017. All-in-all, a harrowing time for making a home purchase.

Are you making the most of today’s hot housing market? Heat up your sales with the latest real estate trends and technology from Properties Online today.

Trends: the 2018 Real Estate Market Heats Up

With experts predicting sizzling summer market conditions to continue in many states, what real estate trends are integral to buyer and seller success?

2018 Sales a Week Faster than Last Year

Sellers
Priced right, the pressure of a faster home sale has been relieved, and negotiating power improved.

Buyers
Fierce competition means 10%+ cash down and mortgage pre-approval is imperative for proving commitment to purchase. To win a home, buyers must be first out of the gate, searching daily with their list of prioritized must-haves. Then they must stand out from the competition, sweetening the pot with the help of a good agent who can draft an enticing offer.

Tip: Including a personalized photo and letter about who buyers are and why they love the home promotes a personal connection.

Higher Prices for 2018 than Last Year
Prices from February 2017-2018 have increased a shocking 10%!

Sellers
Higher sticker prices are dominating real estate trends, prompting sellers to make big plans for pocketing the payback and downsizing, or upgrading HOME 2.0.

Buyers
With only 1 of 3 homes priced under $200,000, and HALF of buyers competing for them, it’s integral in these market conditions for buyers to:
-Crunch the numbers, determining how much home they can truly afford prior to shopping.
-Stay within these constraints, and avoid getting impatient or competitive to avoid financial disaster. (Hello, 2008 housing crisis).
-Sacrifice some ‘wants’ for an affordable home.
-Expand search criteria/area to find more affordable homes.

Market Hot Spots
These top 10 market hot spots could see even more extreme competition:

1. San Francisco, California
2. Midland, Texas
3. Vallejo, California
4. San Jose, California
5. Sacramento, California
6. Denver, Colorado
7. Santa Rosa, California
8 Colorado Springs, Colorado
9. San Diego, California
10. Stockton, California

Take control of today’s real estate trends and put them to work for you with tips and tech from Properties Online today.

Real Estate Market Watch – Consumer Empowered Real Estate Information Changes Agents’ Selling Models

Today’s real estate trends point to a shift in the real estate sales paradigm. With today’s consumers empowered by information freely available online through portals like Zillow and Trulia, home buyers and sellers are increasingly looking to alternative sales models they feel offer better bang for the buck.

Sales Evolution
Though many agents fear replacement, market information accessibility isn’t rendering agents nonessential. Instead the rise of accessible digital home information has consumers looking to new opportunities in digital property transactions. Like the travel industry’s shift from agents to online tools, consumers no longer need the middle man to safely conduct transactions.

The Shift to Digital
Rather than the traditional 2.5-3% agent fee on each transaction side, consumers are looking to flat rate services such as Reali, which offer value while upholding quality of service. With the typical fee at about $5,000 for homes valued between $250,000-750,000, this offers both buyers and sellers substantial savings.

On a $500,000 home, which at a 3% commission would normally run $15,000, buyer savings amounts to $10,000 – a pretty penny in an era where scrounging up the cash for a down payment remains a significant challenge. And such services are not discounted, but full service, providing all the services and protections buyers typically expect from a broker, including open communication 7-days a week.

The Realization of a New Era
In this new era of real estate sales, most buyers/sellers opt for a non-intrusive chat/text session. Video/photo tours are created online, and buying/selling documents scheduled and uploaded through the service’s app, including disclosures and an executive summary of each deal’s details.

From scheduling a showing to shopper questions, everything is managed digitally via a buying/selling process that is automated, efficient, and tech-driven, yet still protects both parties, providing essential transactional guidance. Transparent, real time transactions, from the source, with no middlemen.

Arm yourself for changing real estate trends. Stay ahead of the game with the help of Properties Online.

Market Watch: Updated 2018 Changes to Buyer Demographics

Following an exciting 2017 buying season, real estate trends point to a few changes on the horizon. What will 2018 have in store?

Changes Predicted for the 2018 Home Buying Season
Stay on your toes and be on the lookout for these changing real estate trends:

– Baby Boomers Finally Ready to Downsize

Baby boomers are finally letting go of larger traditional and colonial-style homes, and are ready to downsize in retirement. What are they looking for? A smaller footprint and single-story living, so they won’t have to navigate perilous stairways as they age. How does this translate into the market? Rising demand is expected to push up the prices of single-story dwellings.

– Millennials Compromising on the Suburbs

Though many millennials have their sights set on urban life and activity, millennial buyers, who could make up 43% of the home buying market by the close of 2018, are prioritizing affordability and quality of life – a shift which is pushing this segment out into the suburbs. Last year, the undeniable shortage of entry-level homes posed a huge hurdle for this group, the nation’s largest buyer segment.

– Post-Bubble Foreclosure Sufferers Re-Entering the Market

The more than 10-million Americans forced into foreclosure during the Great Recession have put in their 7-year, foreclosure law penance. Sick of renting and itching to re-enter the market, how many will become eligible in 2018? Around a whopping 1.5 million Americans according to the National Center for Policy Analysis, adding pressure to an already strained supply of home inventory.

Still a Seller’s Market

As buyer demand remains strong in the current year, home prices will continue to soar. This will continue to add to the stresses of first time buyers, foreclosure sufferers, and cash-strapped retirees, struggling with a lack of affordable home options and a dearth of down payment cash.

How will changing real estate trends effect your business? Stay in-the-know with the help of Properties Online.

Market Watch: What’s Hot and What’s Not in Home Design

We can’t always be experts on interior design, which is why a bit of professional advice is always welcome. In today’s real estate trends, we’ll look at what’s hot in home design from the 2018 Interior Design Show.

The Kitchen as a Focal Point
Kitchen upgrades remain a key investment opportunity, not just in design, but in technology. In today’s homes, there are an array of opportunities for design and technology to meet, and this is especially true in the kitchen. Now seen as a place to gather and even entertain, not just a place to cook, opportunities abound for kitchen personalization in both the design and technology genres. From multifunctional kitchen islands to smart refrigerators, stoves, and more, design elements turn the kitchen into an ideal second living space, the hub of the home.

Durable Materials with Clean Lines
Topping off favored kitchen materials: Engineered quartz, whose fabrication advancements have opened new doors in other areas of the home as well, surrounding tubs, showers and even fireplaces. Heavier, contrasting concretes are also quite popular surfaces around the home. Clean lines are big, with distressed wood cabinets replaced by cleaner, sharper surfaces, including boldly painted cabinet fascia.

Curvy Furnishings
Curves and soft round edges in all types of furniture, from chairs and tables to lighting, are cropping up. Lighting is more than functional, it is sculptural, with homeowners investing in lighting as they do artwork: The more fixtures the better.

Extending Living Space Outdoors
Due to limited space and sometimes crowded living quarters, extending living space outdoors continues to rise in popularity, making outdoor living spaces among the most popular real estate trends to date. Here customization opportunities abound as well, from outdoor kitchen, dining, and bar additions, to living areas, game rooms, private garden retreats, and even outdoor office space.

Strive for a listing that home buyers warm to with the hottest real estate trends from Properties Online today.

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