Economists: Slow recovery on tap
A new poll says the recovery could start soon; and two-thirds of the economists think existing-home sales have hit bottom.
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NAR backs move to extend tax credit
A group representing 1/3 of American business wants the $8K tax credit extended for one year, expanded to $15K and applied to all buyers.
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Realtors see buyers returning to market
Realtors see buyers returning to market
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NAR: Home prices reflect current sales, not market value
NAR: Home prices reflect current sales, not market value. NAR’s chief economist says distressed sales are creating market distortions in otherwise stable neighborhoods.
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Government plans stimulate hope for Florida’s real estate markets
A monthly UF survey finds an increase in confidence for the Florida real estate market. “Positive responses … lead us to believe there is light at the end of the tunnel,” says Timothy Becker, director of UF’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. According to Becker, many respondents believe that government stimulus efforts are working.
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Consumers give spark of new hope for econ revival
Even though the U.S. economy shrank again in the first quarter, consumers spent more on cars, furniture and appliances, raising hopes for an economic rebound later this year. Many analysts predict economic growth by this summer, though the final quarter of 2009 is more likely.
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NO ONE REALLY KNOWS
NO ONE REALLY KNOWS
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Top economists say recovery has begun
Top economists say recovery has begun
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Housing may have hit bottom in February
Housing may have hit bottom in February
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With home affordability up, buyers starting to return
With home affordability up, buyers starting to return
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Top economists see recovery very differently
Top economists see recovery very differently
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NAR endorses Obama’s recovery plan
WASHINGTON – Feb. 26, 2008 – The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) expressed support of President Obama’s broadened focus of the nation’s economic recovery that stresses housing stability and making health care an important component of his economic revitalization strategy, in addition to “restarting lending” and preventing foreclosures.
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Q & A's (2009 White House Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Questions and Answers)
Q & A's (2009 White House Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Questions and Answers)
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White House Fact Sheet: 3 Housing Examples
White House Fact Sheet: 3 Housing Examples
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Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Fact Sheet
Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Fact Sheet
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NAR: Realtor bailout recommendations make headway
WASHINGTON – Jan. 30, 2009 – According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), the U.S. House of Representatives has taken a significant step toward economic recovery in passing H.R. 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
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Florida consumer confidence rises despite weak economy
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jan. 28. 2009 – Consumer confidence among Floridians inched up one point to 68 in January despite worse than expected holiday retail sales and the state being tied for 10th place in the percentage of unemployed workers, a new University of Florida study finds.
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UF: Confidence in Florida real estate markets at new low
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – An accelerating avalanche of bad economic news has swept over Florida real estate to sink confidence in the industry to its lowest level since a statewide survey of economic experts began three years ago, a new University of Florida report finds.
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Poll: Americans favor smarter transportation spending in stimulus
WASHINGTON – Jan. 20, 2009 – Eighty percent of Americans want transportation and other infrastructure spending included in the economic stimulus bill to target projects that achieve multiple goals and create new jobs, according to a survey sponsored by the National Association of Realtors® and Transportation for America.
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2008 top Florida real estate stories
The top story for 2008? Two words: The economy. Top Florida real estate
stories include foreclosures, short sales, falling and then rising home
sales, falling prices, and the challenge to get a mortgage. But good things
happened too.
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Ten real estate predictions for 2009
NEW YORK – Dec. 18, 2008 – 2009 is likely to be a year of continuing adjustment to a changing real estate marketplace. Prepare yourself and your business with these predictions from HGTV’s FrontDoor.com Web site.
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YOUR FLORIDA ASSOCIATION
HELP WANTED: Strengthen your state Realtor association by serving on the REIS Board of Managers, where your business and technology skills will help guide the development of cutting-edge real estate products. Board membership begins on Jan. 1, 2008; members serve for three years and meet quarterly in Orlando
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Recent financial crisis fails to hurt confidence in Florida real estate
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Oct. 21, 2008 – The national economic crisis has failed to rattle Florida real estate experts, who, despite serious concerns about the availability of financing, remain surprisingly calm about market conditions within the state, a new University of Florida survey finds.
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Housing-price economist sees market as near bottom
NEW YORK – Sept. 15, 2008 – Wellesley College economist Karl Case presented a paper at the Brookings Institution on Sept. 11 that suggests the housing market may be close to bottoming out. He cited modest gains in residential prices in nine of the 20 markets covered by the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index and a narrowing of the gap between incomes and home prices that occurred during the end of previous property downturns.
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Multiple quick fixes tried for U.S. financial crisis
WASHINGTON – Sept. 19, 2008 – Urgently moving on multiple fronts to stem the worst financial crisis in decades, the government moved Friday to protect money market mutual funds against losses and temporarily banned short-selling of company stocks. The Treasury Department asked Congress to give it sweeping power to buy up toxic debt that has unhinged Wall Street.
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Real estate vultures think Florida condo prices have hit bottom
MIAMI – Sept. 4, 2008 – Trying to time the real estate market and planning to buy once it hits bottom? Get your checkbook.
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WHAT’S FAIR?
Is it fair for prudent taxpayers and homeowners to bail out people who borrowed foolishly and companies whose executives caused the credit crunch? The answer is “no,” but that doesn’t make the bailout a mistake, says Zvi Bodie, finance professor at Boston University. “My own view is that the world isn’t fair,” says Bodie. “But would it be fair to put the economy into a deep recession or depression? I don’t think so.”
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Gov. Crist embarks on statewide ‘listening tour’
DORAL, Fla. (AP) – Aug. 8, 2008 – Gov. Charlie Crist has embarked on a listening tour to learn how the slumping economy is affecting small businesses, but his stops have been heavy on image-boosting and light on listening.
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Florida consumer confidence rises as residents look to the future
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – July 30, 2008 – Consumer confidence among Floridians rose one point to 60 in July from its revised index and all-time low record in June, signaling that state residents may be looking ahead to when the housing market picks up, a new University of Florida study finds.
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SLOW AND STEADY
Economist Dr. Sean Snaith delivered an economic report to members of Enterprise Florida’s board of directors this week, saying that homebuyers and builders will “slowly tiptoe back to the housing market” for a solid turnaround in 2010. The head of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness, Snaith predicted that job growth in Tampa through 2010 would exceed everywhere else in Florida except for Orlando.
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NAR: Home sales, prices to pick up in second half of 2008
WASHINGTON – May 15, 2008 – Home sales and prices throughout most of the country are poised for improvement in the second half of 2008, and the recovery will vary by market, Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors® said Thursday during NAR’s Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo. More than 9,000 Realtors® and guests are attending the conference that runs through Saturday
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GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME
According to Realty Times, Florida real estate experts say the state’s housing market is showing signs of recovery, despite falling residential prices and rising foreclosures and short sales.
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Greenspan: This recession is mild
WASHINGTON – May 8, 2008 – Speaking during a television interview, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan declared that the country has slipped into a mild recession that is not likely to improve until residential property prices begin to stabilize and the pressure on financial institutions to write off mortgage-related losses eases up.
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Survey: Most Americans believe homeownership still attainable
DULLES, Va. – April 22, 2008 – According to a survey from AOL Real Estate and Zogby International, more than 50 percent of Americans believe the dream to own a home is still attainable for most citizens, while 43 percent said they spend more than 30 percent of their household budget on housing. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), owners paying over 30 percent are “cost burdened.” These are just some of the many findings from a new interactive survey of Americans age 18 or older that investigates how Americans view a wide range of real estate issues – from homeownership to housing costs, financial concerns and shopping for a home.
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Existing-home sales to stabilize before upturn
WASHINGTON – April 8, 2008 – Little change is expected in existing-home sales over the next few months, before improving notably during the second half of the year, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
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READY TO BUY
Consumer confidence may be down, but the number of consumers who say they plan to buy a home in the next six months rose slightly in March to 3.3 percent from 2.9 percent, according to a survey by The Conference Board, a private research group.
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Mortgage meltdown dampens state’s commercial real estate outlook
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – March 19, 2008 – Fallout from the subprime meltdown is now spreading from the residential to commercial real estate sectors, but the outlook for Florida remains stable because of the fundamentals of good climate and in-migration, according to the latest University of Florida survey.
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Property tax and economic stimulus plans boost consumer confidence
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Feb. 26, 2008 – Passage of the national economic stimulus package and state property tax amendment helped boost Florida’s consumer confidence by four points to 74 in February after last month’s decline to its lowest level in 16 years, a new University of Florida study reports.
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The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell 12 points in February
NEW YORK – Feb. 26, 2008 – The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in January, fell sharply in February and now stands at 75.0 (1985=100), down from 87.3 in January. The Expectations Index declined to 57.9 from 69.3 while the Present Situation Index decreased to 100.6 from 114.3 in January.
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Florida real estate market reached bottom in 2007, report says
ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 8, 2008 – A new report from the Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund Inc. (The Fund) finds that Florida’s housing market slowed in 2007 in nearly every county analyzed. The report also shows that real estate markets flattened out in spring 2007, before the subprime mortgage crisis in August knocked markets down another 10 percent across the state. Since then, the state’s housing market has flattened and is expected to begin to recover during the next several years.
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MARKET YOURSELF ONLINE
Real estate professionals increasingly spend more money on online marketing because research shows most homebuyers turn to the Internet to initiate property searches. Online marketing does not have to be expensive or difficult, and there are several easy steps that associates can take to create a Web presence, including the use of their e-mail and Web site addresses on fliers, business cards, postcards and other communications.
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Recession risk in Florida in 2008 rising
NEW YORK – Jan. 10, 2008 – Moody’s Economy.com senior managing director Steve Cochrane believes Florida’s chance of entering a recession in 2008 is as high as 60 percent, and he put several of the state’s markets at the top of his list of metro areas nationwide with the highest recession risks.
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Survey says: Falling U.S. dollar is No. 1 investor worry
JUPITER, Fla. – Oct. 15, 2007 – The falling U.S. dollar is the number one worry of U.S. investors, according to an investor survey conducted by Weiss Research’s MoneyandMarkets.com.
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Improvement in mortgage market bodes well for housing in 2008
WASHINGTON – Oct. 11, 2007 – Conditions in the mortgage market are improving for consumers, which should help to release some pent-up demand in early 2008, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
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Florida’s consumer confidence rises slightly but expected to dip again
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Sept. 26, 2007 – Florida’s consumer confidence inched up one point to 79 in September, a new University of Florida study finds, though higher gas prices and the housing sector could impact future confidence.
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NAR: Mortgage problems to dampen home sales in the short term
WASHINGTON – Sept. 11, 2007 – Tighter credit for home mortgages will measurably dampen home sales in the short term and postpone an expected recovery for existing-home sales until 2008, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
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Fishkind: Florida’s housing market now in slow recovery
ORLANDO, Fla. – Aug. 30, 2007 – Popular perceptions about the housing market are wrong, says noted economist Hank Fishkind, who believes the market reached bottom a few months ago. Fishkind looks for trends in real estate statistical releases, and says that things may not be great but there’s also no indication that they’re getting worse.
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Near-term home sales to hold in modest range, says NAR
WASHINGTON – Aug. 9, 2007 – The housing market will probably hold close to present levels in the months ahead, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
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Consumer confidence among Floridians in ‘holding pattern’
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Aug. 1, 2007 – Consumer confidence among Florida residents dropped one point to 81 in July at a time when the national index is on the rise, and University of Florida researchers point to the state’s soft housing market as a factor.
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Hank Fishkind: Other economists wrong – housing on slow upswing
ORLANDO, Fla. – July 26, 2007 – Economist Hank Fishkind calls other economists’ dire warnings and negative news about the housing market overblown, and says that, outside of Miami’s condominium market, the state’s housing markets hit bottom months ago and are now on a slow return to normalcy. |
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