National
NW FLorida Beaches make Frommer's Top 12 World Destination List!
December 07, 2009
Northwest Florida residents who want to visit one of the top tourist destinations in the world for 2010 need only to step outside.
Frommer’s Travel Guide, one of the best-selling travel guides in the world with more than 75 million books sold, recently named the Florida panhandle beaches as one of its top 12 travel destinations for next year.
Other areas that made Frommer’s list are Tunisia in North Africa; Hanoi, Vietnam; and Melbourne, Australia. The only other American locale that made the list was Hawaii’s Big Island.
We're in a slow, but definite recovery mode
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -While President Obama, Congress, and the American people debate financial regulatory reform, foreclosures continue to mount as embattled housing markets bump along the bottom.
But amid much talk about problems, many areas of the country are now experiencing rebounds, with declining foreclosures, increasing home sales and even increased average sale prices, according to ForeclosureS.com, a leading real estate information provider.
"We're in a slow, but definite recovery mode," says Alexis McGee, foreclosure expert, educator, author, and president of ForeclosureS.com. "While foreclosures persist and unemployment still worsens, there are positives in the market that give a strong indication that housing markets have bottomed. Even some interest rate increases have failed to put a damper on prospective home buyers and investors who wisely recognize that buying a home today is more affordable than it has been in decades."
May housing construction jumps by 17.2 percent 06.16.09
WASHINGTON – Construction of new homes jumped in May by the largest amount in three months, an encouraging sign that the nation's deep housing recession was beginning to bottom out.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that construction of new homes and apartments jumped 17.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000 units. That was better than the 500,000-unit pace that economists had expected and came after construction fell in April to a record low of 454,000 units.
In another encouraging sign, applications for building permits, seen as a good indicator of future activity, rose 4 percent in May to an annual rate of 518,000 units.
Real Estate Resurrection Begins
Hugh Bromma, Entrust Group, 01.08.09
While the data on prices and sales are still awful on a nationwide basis, there are rays of hope emerging for real estate.
Sales of new and existing homes continue to decline in the U.S., as assets of all stripes are re-priced lower and consumers become more risk averse. But the news in real estate is not all bad, and in some of the hardest-hit areas, like California, Florida and Nevada, sales in some areas have been rising in recent months.
While the national real estate figures show the country continues to be mired in a downturn that started more than two years ago, there are increasingly pockets of hope out there. It's true that much of the recent uptick in real estate activity reflects distressed sales, such as foreclosures. But the fact is that drastically lower home prices and more attractive mortgage rates--rates are down almost a full percentage point on a 30-year loan--are creating more buying interest,
Home Sales Hit 7 Year Low
Pending Sales of existing U.S. homes dropped to a seven year low in November, data showed on Tuesday as rising job losses and a deeping economic recession keep potential house buyers on the sidelines.
The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based contracts signed in November, dropped 4.0 percent to 82.3 percent, the lowest level since the series started in 2001. That was worse then economists' expectation for a 0.1 percent drop.
Novembers reading was 5.3 percent lower then a year-ago Octobers pending home sales index was revised down to 85.7.
Home Prices at 2004 Levels, Now is the Time to Buy
Home prices plunge record 18 percent in October: S&P 12/30/08
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Prices of U.S. single-family homes in October plunged a record 18.0 percent from a year earlier, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released on Tuesday that indicated a U.S. housing market in the throes of a deep recession.
The composite index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.2 percent in October from September. The price drops, both on a year-over-year and month-over-month basis, came in worse than expectations based on a Reuters survey of economists.
S&P said its composite index of 10 metropolitan areas declined 2.1 percent in October from September for a 19.1 percent year-over-year drop, also a record.
"The bear market continues; home prices are back to their March, 2004 levels." David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's, said in a statement.
10 Worst Real Estate Markets for 2009
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 provided by: Fortune on CNNMoney.com
The housing market hasn't bottomed out yet. For the third quarter, the closely-watched S&P Case-Shiller national home-price index fell 16.6%, and experts are predicting further declines. Of the top 100 markets, here are 10 with the worst forecasts.
