Earlier this year,   realtor.com   announced the release of the   Housing Recovery Index , a weekly guide showing how the pandemic has impacted the residential real estate market. The index leverages a weighted average of four key components of the housing industry by tracking each of the following: Housing Demand  – Growth in online search activity Home Price  – Growth in asking prices Housing Supply  – Growth of new listings Pace of Sales  – Difference in time-on-market The index compares the current status  “to the January 2020 market trend, as a baseline for pre-COVID market growth. The overall index is set to 100 in this baseline period. The higher a market’s index value, the higher its recovery and vice versa.” The graph below charts the index by showing how the real estate market started out strong in early 2020, and then dropped dramatically at the beginning of March when the pandemic paused the economy. It also shows the strength o...

There has been much talk around the possibility that Americans are feeling less enamored with the benefits of living in a large city and now may be longing for the open spaces that suburban and rural areas provide states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty of Prescott. In a recent  Realtor Magazine   article , they discussed the issue and addressed comments made by Lawrence Yun,  Chief Economist  for the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR): “While migration trends were toward urban centers before the pandemic, real estate thought leaders have predicted a suburban resurgence as home buyers seek more space for social distancing. Now the data is supporting that theory. Coronavirus and work-from-home flexibility is sparking the trend reversal, Yun said. More first-time home buyers and minorities have also been looking to the suburbs for affordability, he added.” NAR surveyed agents across the country asking them to best describe the lo...

  One of the biggest surprises of 2020 is the resilience of the residential real estate market states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty Of Prescott. Lawrence Yun,   Chief Economist   of the   National Association of Realtors   (NAR), is now forecasting that   more homes   will sell this year than last year. He’s also predicting home sales to   increase   by 8-12% next year. There’s strong evidence that he will be right. ShowingTime , a leading showing software and market stat service provider for the residential real estate industry, just  reported  on their latest  the ShowingTime Showing Index : “Home buyer traffic jumped again in July, recording a  60.7 percent  year-over-year increase in nationwide showing activity.” That means there are 60% more buyers setting appointments to see homes than there were at this same time last year. The number of potential purchasers was also up dramatically i...

   The year 2020 will be remembered as one of the most challenging times of our lives. A worldwide pandemic, a recession causing historic unemployment, and a level of social unrest perhaps never seen before have all changed the way we live states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty of Prescott. Only the real estate market seems to be unaffected, as a   new forecast   projects there may be   more homes purchased  this year than last year. As we come to the end of this tumultuous year, we’re preparing for perhaps the most contentious presidential election of the century. Today, it’s important to look at the impact past presidential election years have had on the real estate market. Is there a drop-off in home sales during a presidential election year? BTIG , a research and analysis company looked at new home sales from 1963 through 2019 in their report titled  One House, Two House, Red House, Blue House . They noted that in non-presi...

   The year 2020 will certainly be one to remember, with new realities and norms that changed the way we live. This year’s real estate market is certainly no exception to that shift states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty of Prescott, with historic highlights continuing to break records and challenge what many thought possible in the housing market. Here’s a look at four key areas that are fundamentally defining the market this year. Housing Market Recovery The economy was intentionally put on pause this spring in response to the COVID-19 health crisis. Many aspects of the common real estate transaction were placed on hold at the same time. Thankfully,  technology  and innovation helped the industry power forward, and business gradually ramped back up as shelter-in-place orders were lifted. The result? Total transformation of the market from rock-bottom lows to exceptional highs. Today, the housing recovery is being called truly remarkable by ...

  Homebuying has been on the rise over the past few months, with record-breaking sales powering through the market in June and July. Buyers are actively   purchasing   homes, and the momentum is continuing into the fall states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer Of West USA Realty Of Prescott. It is, however, becoming harder for buyers to find homes to purchase. If you’ve been thinking about selling your house, the coming weeks might just be the timing you’ve been waiting for. According to the  Pending Home Sales Report  from the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR): “ Pending home sales in July achieved another month of positive contract activity, marking three consecutive months of growth . The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, rose 5.9% to 122.1 in July.  Year-over-year, contract signings rose 15.5%.  An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 200...