10 Sep 2019
By Randy Courtney

Boom Or Bubble? – Home Prices Hit Record Highs Across America

Real Estate
The rapidly rising home prices currently found in many parts of the United States make it seem like the Great Recession of 2008 never happened. It took approximately eight years for home prices to recover the values that were equivalent to those they had before the recession. After reaching this point of recovery, since around 2016, real estate prices have been going up very quickly in many cities. The Best Recovered Housing Markets Here are the fully-recovered housing markets analyzed by ATTOM data service for the second quarter of 2019 that have exceeded the peak valuations from before the recession.…
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09 Sep 2019
By Randy Courtney

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – September 9th, 2019

Financial Reports
Last week’s economic reports included readings on construction spending, public and private-sector jobs and the national unemployment rate. Weekly reports on mortgage rates and first-time jobless claims were also released. Construction Spending Rises in August Construction spending rose 0.10 percent higher than in July according to the Commerce Department. Analysts expected construction spending to increase by 0.60 percent based on June’s reading of -0.70 percent. Construction spending was -2.70 percent lower year-over-year based on revisions to data going back to 2008. Construction spending was impacted by multiple factors including costs of labor and building materials and inclement weather in some…
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06 Sep 2019
By Randy Courtney

New Home Prices Going Down Making Them More Affordable

Real Estate
Residential real estate developers in America are responding to a national slowdown in new home construction by building smaller homes that are more modestly priced. The demand for smaller, less expensive homes is growing, while the overall demand for new custom homes is declining. Prices decreased slightly, by about one-half percent, from the price levels in 2018 for newly-constructed homes. Lower Profits For Builders The median price for a newly-constructed home in America is $372,900. The median sales price of an existing home is $309,700. American construction companies are feeling the pressure to build lower-priced homes along with the increased…
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