Lawrence Yun

Existing-home sales rose 8.3 percent nationally in the first quarter from the last three months of 2010, the National Association of Realtors reported today. But sales were 0.8 percent below the 2010 first quarter. The median price in this year's quarter was $158,700, down 4.6 percent from $166,400 the year before. Association chief eonomist Lawrence Yun said lower-priced housing accounted for the largest share of the 2011 quarter's sales because those homes are favored by investors and cash buyers.

Sales contracts for existing homes rose 2 percent nationally in January from December and were 8 percent above the first month of 2011, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. In the eight-county Philadelphia region, these "pending" sales, which typically go to settlement within 45 and 60 days of contract-signing, rose 20 percent from December and were 14 percent above January 2011, Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert reported. Realtors' chief economist Lawrence Yun said "the trend in contract activity implies we are on track for a more meaningful sales gain this year.

Existing-home prices in 40 metro areas rose in the fourth quarter of 2009, the National Association of Realtors reported today. The NAR said prices in the Philadelphia region were flat in the quarter from the same period in 2008 - $212,500 versus $212,600. Year-over-year sales were higher in 49 states and the District of Columbia. All but three states had double-digit annual increases. Pennsylvania sales for the fourth quarter were 26.6 percent higher than the 2009 period; New Jersey sales rose 34.1 percent.

The number of sales agreements for previously owned houses rose nationally in August from July's level but remained well below the same month in 2009, when buyers began taking advantage of the first federal tax credit. The volume of sales contracts rose 4.3 percent in August from July, but were 20.1 percent below the 2009 month, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. In the eight-county Philadelphia region, sales contracts were 3.8 percent below July's level and 31.1 percent lower than in August 2009, according to data from Prudential Fox & Roach's HomExpert Market Report.

The number of contracts signed for existing-home purchases rose 2.1 percent in February from January, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. The number of agreements of sale signed during the month was 8.2 percent below February 2010, the Realtors' association reported. Realtors' chief economist Lawrence Yun said contracts had been trending up since hitting bottom in June 2010. Even with periodic monthly declines, the Realtors' pending-sales index - reflecting agreements of sale that will close in one or two months - was 20 percent above the June low point, which was a consequence of the expiration of the federal housing tax credit April 30. The Realtors' numbers showed that the Northeast recorded the only decline in pending-sales numbers in February - 10.9 percent below January and 18.4 percent below February 2010.

Sales of previously owned homes fell nationwide in February for the first time in three months, slipping 9.6 percent from January's level, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. The month's sales were 2.7 percent lower than in February 2010, and the national median price was $157,000, 4.2 percent below the same month last year. (Median is the middle number; half the houses sold for more, half for less.) In the eight-county Philadelphia area, sales fell 4.2 percent from January's levels and were 5.8 percent lower than in February 2010, according to Prudential Fox & Roach's HomExpert Market Report.

The number of sales contracts for existing homes rose 2.4 percent in June from May, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The index that measures these pending sales climbed 19.8 percent from a year earlier, the low point after the April 30, 2010, expiration of the federal home buyers' tax credit. In the eight-county Philadelphia region, pending sales fell 7.8 percent from May but were 12.8 percent higher than a year earlier, Prudential Fox Roach HomExpert reported.

"A lot of my contemporaries are feeling the same way, saying, 'Let's just wait and see what these knuckleheads do.' " - John Odland, CFO, MacMillan-Piper Inc., Seattle, regarding negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff. "Without growth it's not going to be possible in the contemporary world to keep practicing. " - Robert E. Booth Jr., partner, 3B Orthopaedics, on the group's move from independent company to part of Aria Health. "I thought there'd be long lines. " - Vicki Beal, 57 of Malvern, on the comparatively light shopping at King of Prussia Mall on the day after Christmas.

The state of the U.S. housing market, and its immediate future, came into sharper focus Wednesday through economic reports pivoting around the now-expired federal tax credits for buyers. April 30's deadline for the credits helped boost pending home sales for the third consecutive month, the National Association of Realtors said, citing data reflecting signed sales agreements rather than closings, which lag one or two months behind. The index the Realtors' group uses to measure pending sales rose 6 percent in April, to 110.9.

Sales of existing homes in the eight-county Philadelphia area fell 27.5 percent in June from the same month in 2007, and it took longer to sell homes, according to data released yesterday. But median sales prices in the area remained steady, falling just 0.2 percent. The monthly Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert Report, based on data from Trend Multiple Listing Service, showed the decline in sales of existing homes here was steeper than the 14.8 percent drop year-over-year nationally.

The National Association of Realtors says 2012 was a record year for favorable housing-affordability conditions and a "great year for buyers who could get a mortgage. " What appears between the quotation marks tells us much more about the condition of the residential real estate market last year than any hype about "affordability. " Since the housing bubble burst in 2006-07, the road to affordability the market has traveled has been the roughest since the Great Depression. Record affordability has come, of course, at the cost of millions of foreclosures and billions of dollars in lost equity.

"A lot of my contemporaries are feeling the same way, saying, 'Let's just wait and see what these knuckleheads do.' " - John Odland, CFO, MacMillan-Piper Inc., Seattle, regarding negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff. "Without growth it's not going to be possible in the contemporary world to keep practicing. " - Robert E. Booth Jr., partner, 3B Orthopaedics, on the group's move from independent company to part of Aria Health. "I thought there'd be long lines. " - Vicki Beal, 57 of Malvern, on the comparatively light shopping at King of Prussia Mall on the day after Christmas.

Existing-home sales nationally rose 7.8 percent in August from July and were 9.3 percent higher than the same month in 2011, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. IHS Global Insight housing economist Patrick Newport called the August numbers the "most promising update in five years. " Yet, he cautioned, "normal conditions are still at least a couple of years away. " The national median price rose on a year-over-year basis for the sixth straight month by 9.5 percent, to $187,400, the Realtors said.

Sales of previously owned homes nationwide dropped 5.4 percent in June from May's levels, results that one economist called a "bump in the road" to real estate market recovery. The numbers were 4.5 percent higher than in June 2011, however, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. Median prices rose 7.9 percent from June 2011, reflecting a drop in inventory and the availability of lower-priced distressed properties. In fact, in some popular price ranges, sellers have received multiple bids.

The nation's Realtors say they have just finished the strongest first quarter in home sales in five years, and sales contracts are pointing to a strong second three months. At the National Association of Realtors' midyear meetings in Washington this week, chief economist Lawrence Yun said "positive underlying economic factors" were helping spur home sales. Among the positives, according to Yun, are high affordability conditions, increased job creation, improving consumer confidence, and an increase in rental costs that make mortgage payments look like a bargain.

Existing-home sales slipped 0.9 percent in February from January but were 8.8 percent higher than the same month in 2011, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. February sales, while lower than January, were at the second-highest level in 21 months, economists said. Sales of used houses also declined month-to-month in the eight-county Philadelphia region - 3.8 percent - but were 8.5 percent higher than in February 2011, according to the Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert Report.

Sales contracts for existing homes rose 2 percent nationally in January from December and were 8 percent above the first month of 2011, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. In the eight-county Philadelphia region, these "pending" sales, which typically go to settlement within 45 and 60 days of contract-signing, rose 20 percent from December and were 14 percent above January 2011, Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert reported. Realtors' chief economist Lawrence Yun said "the trend in contract activity implies we are on track for a more meaningful sales gain this year.

In early January, Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research blogged that 40,000 of the 200,000 jobs created in December were courier jobs that would disappear in the next month's report. In other words, temporary positions related to the holidays - the ghosts of Christmas just passed. "Arrrgh," Baker tweeted later. "If only economists had to know economics!" Some economists do know economics, but I assume that the overwhelming volume of data they must consume every day can lead to chronic indigestion, or at least lapses in judgment.

Existing-home sales continued to trend upward in December, with the eight-county Philadelphia region and the rest of the United States recording modest monthly and year-over-year gains. Sales in the region were 5.3 percent higher in December than November and 4.8 percent above December 2010, Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert reported. National existing-home sales were 5 percent higher in December than November and 3.6 percent above December 2010, the National Association of Realtors said.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that, since 2007, it had overstated sales of previously owned homes by about three million. Between 2007 and 2010, actual sales were 14.3 percent less than reported, the group said, while in 2010, there were 14.6 percent fewer sales. The association was quick to say, however, that the discrepancy - created primarily by outdated methodology and by an unanticipated drop in the number of Americans trying to sell their homes themselves - did not affect local numbers or prices over the last four years.