Friday, May 25, 2018

REALTORS® Confidence Index


The REALTORS® Confidence Index is a key indicator of housing market strength based on a monthly survey sent to over 50,000 real estate practitioners. Practitioners are asked about their expectations for home sales, prices and market conditions. In addition, the "Questions of the Month," feature results of a timely aspect of the housing market.
Note: the REALTOR® Confidence Index is provided by NAR solely for use as a reference. Resale of any part of this data is prohibited without NAR's prior written consent.

Highlights

  • Properties were typically on the market for 26 days (29 days in April 2017).

  • First-time buyers accounted for 33 percent of sales (34 percent in April 2017).

  • Cash sales made up 21 percent of sales (21 percent in April 2017).

  • REALTORS® report “low inventory”, “interest rates”, and “multiple offers” as the major issues affecting transactions in April 2018.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Affordability Down - Median Home Prices Up




Wow. The median price of a home in Santa Cruz County now hovers at $900,000. How can that be?
Housing affordability continues to decline across the nation but particularly in the west - and our area as well as the bay area, is contributing to that trend. Mortgage rates are also partly to blame. They have been creeping up. The Housing Affordability Index calculation assumes a 20 percent down payment and a 25 percent qualifying ratio (principal and interest payment to income).







The "Months of Inventory" statistic is how long the average home takes to sell. When this number is around 5 or 6 it's considered a balanced market. When it is around 2 or 3 a sellers market and 7 or 8, a buyers market.  It is definitely a sellers market.