Roberta Voss, Barbara Klein and I wrote an Op Ed for the Arizona Republic this week.
Want to know HOW people go about trying to manipulate the redistricting process, exactly? Have a look at this Op Ed, which ran in the Arizona Republic on November 1st. If this does not get you hot under the colar, I don’t know what will. See the full, pre-edited version below.
Here’s the October Market Report from my friend Cynthia Lujan at Old Republic Title.
Enjoy, my fellow data geeks!
Market Headlines
· A big contrast exists between the market under $200,000 and the market above that figure
· Enthusiastic buying below $100,000 is causing significant price rises as inventory becomes tight.
· Above $200,000 the market continues to deteriorate slightly.
· Above $400,000 there is potential for further price weakness unless demand improves.
· The overall average for sales pricing is now on an upward trend.
· REO inventory is falling fast, especially at the lower price levels.
1. Homes under $100,000
Summary: Supply getting tight and now constraining the market. Prices are rising and are now 2% higher than last year.
The sales count in this price range dipped 5% between September and October but is still over 40% higher than October 2010. Pending sales are down by nearly 8%compared with last month and are 28% higher than last year. The sales volume is now limited by the low supply. In fact this is the only price range where supply fell last month, down 4.6% and now 49% below this time last year.
2. Homes Between $100,000 and $200,000
Summary: Supply edges up and demand weakens. However pricing is very stable and now trending slightly higher.
Supply increased by 2.1% over the past month but is still down 2.6% compared with 3 months ago and 47% compared with this time last year. Lender owned active listings are down by 70% over the last 12 months while short sale listings are down 42% and normal listings are down 39%.
3. Homes Between $200,000 and $400,000
Summary: Supply is higher and demand is fading. Nevertheless, pricing remains stable at the moment.
The supply of single family homes priced between $200,000 and $400,000 increased by 4.2% between September 26 and October 26 and is now up 6% over the last three months. However it is down 30.4% over the last year. Over the last month REO supply fell by 1.3%, short sales and pre-foreclosures fell by 4.8% and normal listings was where all the growth came, increasing by 9.8%.
4. Homes Between $400,000 and $800,000
Summary: Supply is up and demand is down. Sales prices dropped in September but now appear to have stabilized.
Single family homes between $400,000 and $800,000 have seen active listings grow 8% over the last month and 12% over the last 3 months. This is still down 24% compared with this time last year, but this is just one of many signals that the dynamics of this price range are starting to deteriorate. The sales volume weakened again in October, with monthly sales down 7% compared with September and also down 7% compared with October 2010. Pending sales fell by 5.1% over the last month and are now a remarkable 22% below last year.
5. Homes over $800,000
Summary: The luxury market remains weak. Supply is growing while demand is muted.
We have a mixed picture this month for the luxury market. The monthly sales rate was 18% higher than last year but pending sales are down 17% compared with last October and 19.5% lower than three months ago. Demand has still not recovered from the steep drop off which coincided with the debt limit crisis and the stock market decline in July. Supply is on the rise, up 7.2% over the last month although still 25%
