It’s a wrap, the numbers are in from across the state. Alabama residential sales in 2012 improved by 5.9 percent from 2011. This represents the second consecutive year of positive sales growth for Alabama’s residential real estate industry. In 2011, sales grew by 2 percent ending a six year period of declining sales including 2010that [...]

Residential construction appears to have expanded in Alabama in 2012 relative to the prior year, the first time that has happened since 2005. Across Alabama, the number of permits issued for new private residential construction grew 9.1 percent in 2012 relative to 2011, according to the latest data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Permits [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) – The average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages inched down toward its record low this week, helping to keep home buying affordable. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the rate on the 30-year loan dipped to 3.38% from 3.40% last week. It’s slightly above the 3.31% rate reached in November, lowest on records dating [...]

The index showed prices up 4.3% in October compared to a year earlier. That’s the best improvement since May 2010. But that earlier increase was due to a temporary spike caused by a homebuyers’ tax credit of up to $8,000 on homes purchased in late 2009 and early 2010. This latest rise comes as the [...]

Home prices are expected to rise a modest 1% from the fourth quarter of this year to the end of 2013, according to the real estate research firm Fiserv. David Stiff, Fiserv’s chief economist, notes that after some choppiness early on, prices should increase 3.4% from the second quarter of 2013 to the second quarter [...]

Real estate sales are seasonal and September represents the annual transitional month where the market anticipates a slower pace in closed transactions, a trend that traditionally continues into the winter quarters. Alabama statewide residential sales during September were 4.2 percent lower than the same period in 2011. Year-to-date (YTD) through September, sales are up 6.3 [...]

The long-battered housing market is finally starting to get back on its feet. But some experts believe it could soon become another housing boom. Signs of recovery have been evident in the recent pick ups in home prices, home sales and construction. Foreclosures are also down and the Federal Reserve has acted to push mortgage [...]

U.S. single-family home prices rose for a sixth month in a row in July, though the improvement was not as strong as expected, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.4 percent in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, shy of economists’ forecasts for 0.9 [...]

Rising home values helped 1.3 million homeowners get out from “underwater” in the first half of the year, and another 2 million would get equity if national home prices increase by another 5 percent, data aggregator CoreLogic said today. CoreLogic estimates that 22.3 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage were worth less than [...]

Alabama statewide residential sales during July were 3.0 percent lower than the same period in 2011. Year-to-date (YTD) through July, sales remain up 7.8 percent from 2011. Supply: The statewide housing inventory in July was 34,301 units, a decrease of 9.0 percent from July 2011 and 16.9 percent from the month of July’s peak in [...]