Housing News
Top ten housing markets poised for a recovery
Recovering real estate market
There is no agreement between economists and bankers as to the health of the real estate market, with some saying the real estate market is already recovering, others saying we are now at or near the bottom of housing. With housing and employment so inseparable, it stands to reason that the areas with recovering employment levels mean improving foreclosure rates, recovering home prices, home sales and new construction.
Forbes Magazine agrees, highlighting ten cities they believe to be the most likely to experience a real estate rebound, all of which have strong job markets. Forbes looked at the home price changes over the last year and three years, unemployment rates, job growth projections, population shifts, and new home construction rates of the 100 most populated metropolitan statistical areas, comparing these rates to recent years in an effort to predict which markets are on the verge of rebounding.
Below are the results, outlining the ten cities believed to rebound first with nearly one in three being in Texas:
- San Jose, CA
- Houston, TX
- Raleigh, NC
- Austin, TX
- Boston, MA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Fort Worth, TX
- Oklahoma City, OK
- New Orleans, LA
- Rochester, NY
Naturally, it should be noted that all real estate is local and there are recovering areas in all cities, and even within the cities listed above, not all parts of town are poised for recovery, as some neighborhoods have been decimated by foreclosures, gentrification and have become generally undesirable, crime-ridden and filled with blight houses. But where employment improves, housing improves naturally.
Austin
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
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Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
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Tim Thornton
January 15, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Tara. Thanks again for your Real Estate news and perspective.
I believe it's a little hard to put Austin in this group and call it a "recovery". Austin has suffered very little (by a national standard) to the Real Estate demise. Largely due to our lake of participation in the national bubble. Yes, Austin did rise and fall to some same degree from 2006 to 2009, but over all, the Austin market has been fairly stable, and appears to be pulling out of a flat market and moving quickly toward an aggressive 2012 ahead.