Category Archives: Selling a Home

Where do luxury homes tend to sell the most? Coldwell Banker’s Luxury Market Report recently revealed the top U.S. cities with the highest number of luxury homes sales in the $1 million-plus category. The cities in the top 10, along with the number of sales in the $1 million-plus tier for 2012 : New York City (Manhattan): 2,382 Los Angeles: 1,533 San Francisco: 1,507 Hamptons, N.Y.: 963 Miami: 790 Chicago: 713 Naples, Fla.: 651 Washington, D.C.: 646 San Jose, Calif.: 589 Newport Beach, Calif.: 561 The author of this article […]

New-home sales posted the largest drop in two years, falling 4.6 percent in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Housing experts say the bad weather may have had a big part in the dip, just as the new-home market had shown signs of picking up its pace during the last few months. The Northeast saw sales drop nearly 14 percent — the largest amount in the U.S. — as it battered a major snowstorm in February, The Wall Street Journal reports. New-home sales also dropped in the South by 9.7 […]

Some would-be move-up home sellers are eyeing home prices carefully. They’re waiting to see how much home prices appreciate more before they consider selling their home. But they may be missing their perfect opportunity, some housing experts say. The best time to move may depend on when the home owner purchased their current residence, says Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. Blomquist says that home owners who purchased their home during the sluggish market the last two to three years may find moving up in 2013 may be their prime […]

Some housing markets are heating up so much that homes are selling in less than 24 hours—also known as a “flash sale.” Real estate brokerage Redfin recently analyzed MLS and additional housing data between Oct. 1, 2012 and Feb. 26, 2013, to reveal which metros are seeing some of the fastest sales. Redfin based its rankings on cities that were seeing a home status going from active to pending in less than a day after being listed. Redfin revealed the following cities are seeing the most flash sales: Phoenix: 540 […]

The inventory of homes for sale has reached its lowest level since 1999, which is helping home prices to rise in many markets, says Lawrence Yun, the National Association of REALTORS®’ chief economist. “Buyer traffic is continuing to pick up, while seller traffic is holding steady,” Yun says. “In fact, buyer traffic is 40 percent above a year ago, so there is plenty of demand but insufficient inventory to improve sales more strongly. We’ve transitioned into a seller’s market in much of the country.” The National Association of REALTORS® is […]

Texas single-family construction permits and existing home sales increased in January, while housing starts declined, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. After two months of decline, single-family housing construction permits rose 5.1% from December to January, while sales of existing homes rose 3.2%. Conversely, housing starts in Texas dropped 1% in January. “The housing market has shown drastic increases in the past four to five months and this report is no surprise,” said Judy Jones, the 2013 president of the MetroTex Association of Realtors. The inventory of homes […]

Sales of new single-family homes picked up considerably in January at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000 sales, 15.6% above the revised December rate of 378,000 units. The latest number topped market expectations for 381,000 sales, according to analysts at Econoday. Typically, large seasonal factors can boost home sales numbers during winter months. January sales are 28.9% above the January 2012 estimate of 339,000 units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The median sales price of new homes sold in January […]

Pending home sales rose in January and continued a 21-month trend of growing from year ago levels, the National Association of Realtors said. The company’s latest pending home sales index suggests the housing recovery is gaining momentum. The January NAR Pending Home Sales Index hit its highest reading since April 2010 when the index reached 110.9. Aside from spikes induced by homebuyer tax credits in 2010, the last index high before 2010 occurred in February 2007 when NAR’s index reached 107.9, the association said. The NAR pending home sales index […]

Pending home sales rose in January, and have been above year-ago levels for the past 21 months, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. There were healthy monthly gains in all regions but the West, which, despite being constrained by limited inventory, still improved slightly. The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, increased 4.5 percent to 105.9 in January from a downwardly revised 101.3 in December and is 9.5 percent above January 2012, when it was 96.7. The data reflect contracts but not closings. The […]

The low inventory of for-sale homes is creating a seller’s market throughout the country. “Buyers and agents are literally waiting for the next house,” says Rick Turley, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage for the San Francisco Bay Area. The supply of existing homes for sale reached nearly an eight-year low in January, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Nationwide, there is a 4.2-month supply of existing homes for sale. A more balanced market with a six-month supply will occur when home prices rise another 20 percent, says John […]