Evidence that we have reached the bottom in the housing market

I had the privilege of watching Richard Smith, President and CEO of Realogy Corporation, speak about the status of the national real estate market while attending the Sotheby’s Leadership Conference this past week.

Realogy Corporation is a global provider of real estate and relocation services and has a diversified business model that includes real estate franchising, brokerage, relocation and title services. Realogy’s world-renowned brands and business units include Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Coldwell Banker Commercial®, The Corcoran Group®, ERA®, Sotheby’s International Realty®, NRT LLC, Cartus and Title Resource Group. Collectively, Realogy’s franchise systems have approximately 14,400 offices and 264,000 sales associates doing business in 99 countries around the world.

Over the last several years, we have all seen the massive amounts of data that has been discussed in the media regarding the health of the real estate market. Prices have been up, down and supply has shown months of improvement only to retreat several months later. Mr. Smith explained that some of the most compelling research came when his organization began analyzing normal turnover in the housing market before the bubble that occurred in 2005.

The research found that turnover in the housing market during a normal year is about 4-5%. Turnover happens in many instances such as change in employment, death or divorce, along with a many number of factors that causes someone to need to purchase a house.

In August, total existing homes sales revived by 7.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.13 million units, up from an upwardly revised 3.84 million in July, but the new pace was down 19.0 percent compared with August 2009 sales.

So what does all this data mean? According to the US Census Bureau, there are approximately 78 million homes in the United States. At the current sales pace of 4.13 million units, we are at approximately 5 percent turnover and have remained around this number for several months.

We will need to see several months of improvement before we know if the bottom is solid, but this is good evidence that we are on the path to recovery.

For more information, visit Black Rock Fine Homes

Housing supply likely to fall as strong sales continue

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Condominium projects across the greater Coeur d’Alene area are reporting strong sales as the end of 2010 nears. With projects such as Black Rock’s Riverfront House Condos being over 70% sold out, the Village at Riverstone condos nearing 75% sold out and strong sales at both Parkside and Ridgepointe, the supply of condos for sale in Coeur d’Alene will likely fall as 2011 approaches.

The real estate decline in 2008 hit developers of condominiums extremely hard throughout the world. In Coeur d’Alene, projects such as Ridgepointe Towers went back to the bank while others such as the Village at Riverstone held public auctions to clear out remaining inventory. Other projects in the area were forced to slash prices in order to compete with auction and bank-owned prices. This was good news for buyers.

Very few developers, if any, have plans to develop more condominiums in the near future. With strong sales in the condo market, and few projects on the horizon, supply will decline in the coming years. And while this is a good sign for the market, eventually prices will climb due to the lack of inventory and an artificial bubble could possibly form until more inventory can be produced to help meet demand.

Only time will tell how the market will react to a declining supply in housing. Buyers and sellers alike are still fearful to make an investment in real estate even as a bottom nears.

To search for Coeur d’Alene area condos for sale, click here.

Encouraging signs in the Coeur d'Alene real estate market

Nearly every market throughout the country experienced an unusually slow summer for real estate sales when all expectations pointed towards a recovery. The Coeur d'Alene, Idaho real estate market wasn't any different.

The real estate market continued a decline throughout the past several months and this has been marked by the the overwhelming amount of media attention drawn to continued poor numbers. And while these statistics are far from encouraging, it seems as though in the past several weeks, buyers have begun to enter the market as an apparent bottom nears.

Markets have begun to stabilize throughout the world and the housing marketing in the US is starting to show obvious signs of recovery. In Coeur d'Alene, Black Rock Properties Group and Tomlinson Sotheby's International Realty have seen an increase in traffic, offers submitted as well as offers pending of real estate throughout the Coeur d'Alene area.

We will continue to monitor activity in the Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint Multiple Listing Services (MLS) in the coming weeks. It is our prediction, however, that we will see some encouraging statistics for September and into October as a bottom is felt in the market. Visit Blackrockfinehomes.com.