March 2016

Keeping Current Matters, 3/16/16

Some Highlights:

• Many buyers are purchasing a home with a down payment as little as 3%.
• You may already qualify for a loan, even if you don't have perfect credit.
• Take advantage of the knowledge of your local professionals who are there to help you determine how much you can afford.

Keeping Current Matters, 3/10/16

We recently reported that home prices are continuing to rise across most of the nation. This has created concern in some pundits that a housing bubble, like we saw ten years ago, is forming again. We want to explain why these concerns are unfounded. The current increase in home values can be easily explained by the theory of supply and demand. Right now, the number of families looking to purchase a home is greater than the supply of homes on the market. Here is a chart that explains how the months’ supply of housing inventory impacts home values: 

According to the latest Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors, there is currently a four-month supply of inventory. That puts us in

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By Jim Buchta, StarTribune 3/15/16

The kickoff to the spring housing market in the Twin Cities was unseasonably strong — especially for sellers.  

During February, there was a 6.7 percent increase in signed purchase agreements in the 13-county metro area, according to a monthly sales report released Monday by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. Though new listings increased slightly in February, there were just 10,953 available properties at the end of the month, a 19.4 percent decline compared with last year.

With buyers outpacing sellers in some parts of the metro area, that meant stiff competition and little room for buyers to negotiate. The median price of all closings during the month was $207,395, a 3.7 percent increase

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Keeping Current Matters, 3/8/16

According to the latest Beracha, Hardin & Johnson Buy vs. Rent (BH&J) Index homeownership is a better way to produce greater wealth, on average, than renting. The BH&J Index is a quarterly report that attempts to answer the question: 

Is it better to rent or buy a home in today’s housing market?

The index examines the entire US housing market and then isolates 23 major markets for comparison. The researchers use a “'horse race' comparison between an individual that is buying a home and an individual that rents a similar quality home and reinvests all monies otherwise invested in homeownership.” Ken Johnson Ph.D., Real Estate Economist & Professor at Florida Atlantic University, and one of the index’s authors

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