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Bill Tancer is the general manager of global research at Hitwise and a weekly columnist for Time Magazine.
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Housing Market - Have We Reached Bottom?
July 29, 2008 12:11 PM
Last week's report on existing home sales by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), revealing a 2.6 percent decline from May, added to the pile of sobering news about the housing market and the economy. Here at Hitwise, we have found, in the past, that Internet activity around home purchase decisions -- specifically, searches for "homes for sale" -- provides valuable insight into what the future may hold for real estate.
While year-over-year we see a decline in "homes for sale" searches that match existing home sales reports, the last several weeks appear to show a leveling-off in real estate search activity. While home sales declined, the same NAR report indicated that average home prices have dropped 6.7 percent from the previous year. Search data could be indicating that market forces (buyers coming into the market to take advantage of lowering prices) are keeping near-future home sales from continuing their slide.
July 29, 2008 in economics | Permalink | User Comments (2)
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Thats because nobody is buying! i'm a realtor and the economy, strict lending practices, and growing concern about the job market are causing less interest in home purchases! There's an overflow of homes especially in the shore vacation market such as the jersey shore. Please don't misinform the public!
Posted by: rob99eclipse | Jul 29, 2008 8:52:56 PM
Ya we've hit the bottom better run out and buy a house at the 4.5 rate or you are going to miss out and the best buying opportunity in decades. Lower prices, interest rate, taxes, and insurance that's a perfect storm to buy. Don't sit on the sidelines and kick your self in the ass in five years saying duh i should have bought a house. Houses will always be the best investment eventually pop will overcome inventory. And now you can own for the same as what it cost to rent so the time to buy is now. It is March 23 2009 get to it. Inventory in my neighborhood is disappearing quicker than you'd imagine. Every house that had a for sale sign up for years has got a sold sign on it now. Buy, buy, buy!!!
Posted by: macb | Mar 23, 2009 7:23:49 AM
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