Leaders & Laggards in U.S. Housing

  As the U.S. housing market recovery has progressed, home values are responding to local economic conditions rather than broader national trends. As a result, some metro-area housing markets with very strong local economies are out-performing the nation as a whole, while others are lagging. Will current market laggards continue to under-perform in 2016 and…

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Long-term outlook for U.S. home values dims

  The long-term outlook for U.S. home values has diminished to a three-year low, and a clear-cut consensus among the experts remains elusive at the national level. This, according to The Q4 edition of the Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey published today. (Pulsenomics conducted the survey and collected 108 responses). Based on the projections of the most…

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The Housing High (and Comedown?) in Denver

  Data from the July edition of the U.S. Housing Confidence Survey of 10,000 households (HCS) and the Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) highlighted the recent smoking-hot conditions in the Denver housing market. For example,  at 77.9, the Housing Market Conditions Index (a ZHCI component) for Denver was at the highest level of all cities…

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Households Ditch The Rear View Mirror

  Real estate is a notoriously inefficient asset class. One symptom of market inefficiency is price inertia, a hallmark of housing markets. However, a comparison of actual U.S. home value changes in the recent past to expected changes for the near future (see below chart) suggests that as households ride the road to real estate…

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Lower Expectations Dent Housing Confidence

  According to the vast majority of 10,000 heads of household who participated in the latest U.S. Housing Confidence Survey conducted by Pulsenomics, prevailing real estate market conditions are healthy, and in most major metropolitan areas, have continued to improve. However, expectations concerning the housing market–while still positive–have reversed course since the start of the…

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The Cost of Rent Control is (Still) Too Damn High

  Some U.S. cities are evaluating or implementing new rent control regulations to curtail rapidly-rising rising rents and worsening rental affordability. For example, in just the past few weeks, rent control policy has garnered headlines in New York City, where the Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rents for a year on roughly 1 million regulated…

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Outlook for US Home Prices Dims

  The results of the latest Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey are in: the panel’s expectation for U.S. home values fell to a 3.4 percent average annual rate for the five-year forecast horizon in Q3. This is the first time in 18 months that this proxy for experts’ housing market sentiment has weakened, and it’s…

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Reigning Renters

  Experts are split on whether the inventory of renter-occupied homes will continue to increase at a significantly faster pace than owner-occupied dwellings in the coming 1-2 years. According to the latest Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey (released this morning), 44% of 103 expert panelists who expressed a view on the topic believe that current…

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Most Experts Expect Home Value Gains Will Slow

  Despite low inventory and persistent price gains in U.S. residential real estate markets, most of the 111 panelists who participated in the latest Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey believe that home values will level-off. The panel expects home values to rise an average of 4.3 percent nationally in 2015 (they rose 5% last year),…

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Great (and Quite Variable) Expectations

  “I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” – Charles Dickens, from Great Expectations The U.S. Housing Confidence Survey (HCS) includes several questions regarding expectations for future home values within the local market where each head of household respondent resides. We ask the questions and carefully monitor…

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