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First time homebuyers' credit set to expire soon! Ask your tax professional if you qualify (some people who have owned a home previously may still qualify!) Close on your home purchase between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010, or have a binding written contract by April 30, 2010 and close by July 1, 2010. Check with you tax professional for any changes to these dates - but do it soon!

Existing home sales fell 16.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million units in December from 6.54 million in November, but remain 15.0 percent above the 4.74 million-unit level in December 2008 according to NAR. Year over year increases continue - just like we have been telling you about for quite some time!

The Pending Home Sales Index increased 1.0 percent to 96.6 from 95.6 in November, and remains 10.9 percent above December 2008 when it was 87.1. In November, the monthly index had fallen by 16.4 percent from surging activity in preceding months according to NAR.

Seasonally adjusted core inflation for all of 2009 was just reported and came in two tenths of a percent higher than the 2008 full year results. Inflation was tame - no surprise given the long recession. See the Strong Dollar Article here.

Happy New Year! Median prices of new homes were up for the second straight month, up about 2.4% after a three and a half percent rise last month! Check out the public version of the article here. Or subscribe and see what may happen in 2010!

Existing home sales rose yet again - no surprise to those of you reading our new home sale prediction reports. Existing Home Sales rose 7.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million units in November from 6.09 million in October, and are 44.1 percent higher than the 4.54 million-unit pace in November 2008 according to NAR. Current sales remain at the highest level since February 2007 when they hit 6.55 million.

Existing Home Sales increase again! Not only were the October numbers ten percent higher than the prior month, but just as we /predicted we saw year over year increases with October 2009 being twenty three percent above the October 2008 numbers. If you had to wait to read about this in the newspaper like everyone else then you should subscribe now!

Pending Home Sales Rise for Record Eight Straight Months

Pending home sales rose again, marking eight consecutive monthly gains – the longest streak since measurement began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – jumped 9.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units in September from a level of 5.09 million in August, and are 9.2 percent higher than the 5.10 million-unit pace in September 2008. Sales activity is at the highest level in over two years, since it hit 5.73 million in July 2007.

A year over year increase showing exactly what we have been predicting for almost a year now! See our predictions or read the EHS article.

Pending home sales have increased for seven straight months, the longest in the series of the index which began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®. The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, rose 6.4 percent to 103.8 from a reading of 97.6 in July, and is 12.4 percent above August 2008 when it was 92.4. The index is at the highest level since March 2007 when it was 104.5.

Ben Bernanke announces that the recession is likely over and core CPI comes in nicely! See our Strong Dollar Inflation analysis page here.

The National Association of Realtors reports that July existing home sales set the fastest pace in two years. Sales jumped 7.2 percent to the highest level since August of 2007. This marked the fourth straight monthly advance. Although this news just hit the wires about an hour ago, we made this prediction months ago! See what you have been missing here.

Existing-home sales in the second quarter of 2009 showed robust gains, according to the latest survey by the National Association of Realtors. Total sales of existing homes rose 3.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million units in the second quarter from 4.58 million units in the first quarter. The news that 39 states experienced increases was particularly encouraging.

NAR's Pending Home Sales index rose 3.6% and is 6.7% above the year ago numbers. Positive housing data continues to enter the market - just as we predicted.

New Home Sales numbers were released and our subscribers section has been updated. In a few weeks we will update the free housing predictions page as well. Our predictions continue to play out accurately!

The latest inflationary numbers shows core CPI tracking closely to last year. Deflationary concerns seem to be over and few signs point to inflationary concerns currently. Read the Strong Dollar Theory Report here.

Housing starts jumped 17.2% and surprised just about everyone! While signs of a recovery in the housing market can be seen across the country (or in our super accurate predictive housing reports) very few people expected housing starts to move up so measurably. Read the news story on Fox News here.

Existing home sales were down three percent from last month and 7.1% from the same period last year. The Western Region experienced an increase in home sales by almost nineteen percent. See the report from NAR here.

The Pending Home Sales Index rose 2.1 percent to 82.1 from a reading of 80.4 in January, but it is still 1.4 percent below February 2008 when it was 83.3. Meanwhile the Housing Affordability Index reached an all time high, making homes more affordable than ever before according to the National Association of Realtors.

New home construction starts jumped more than twenty-two percent in February, surprising most economists. Nevertheless construction starts are still down more than forty-seven percent from a year ago.

The housing market is just as tough as we predicted months ago, and it is now reported that for the month of February the number of homes threatened with foreclosure rose thirty percent. Read the article on Fox News.

New home sales for January were reported at 309,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. This is 10.2% below the December figures and 48.2% below the year ago numbers. No surprise to us - as we have been reporting for months on our housing market predictions page.

Fox News confirms that an eighteen percent home price drop in the fourth quarter of last year brought prices back to 2003 levels nationally. Old news if you have been reading our reports. See the Fox News Report Here.

Metro home sale prices were down in the fourth quarter of 2007, fueled by distressed sales which accounted for a whopping 45% of all sales in the fourth quarter nationally. Meanwhile Mister Obama is expected to sign a spending bill shortly which will have some incentives for first time home buyers as well as protections for people undergoing foreclosures. Read the metro housing report here.

You heard it here first! Or at least you did if you are a subscriber. New Home Sales were just reported as being down 14.7% from last month and a whopping 44.8% below the year ago numbers. Now watch the press go crazy talking about just how horrible these numbers are and how the housing market is doomed. But if you read our reports on the direction of the housing markets, then you not only expected this data months ago, but you also know our opinion on where the markets are headed over the next few months! Once again we caution that past performance can never guarantee future results, but our past performance has been nothing less than phenomenal! Join now and get in the know!

Just off the wire from Fox News: "The pace of new home sales fell to its lowest record since the government began tracking the data in 1963, the Census Bureau said Thursday, as the glut of new homes remain to be a depressing factor on the struggling housing market. The drop was much sharper than what economists expected, who were looking for a 2% decline in new home sales to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 400,000 units."

Guess those economists should have been reading our reports and they would have known about this months ago!

NAR released a surprisingly strong Existing Home Sales Report today. Nationally EHS were up 6.5% from last month and down only 3.5% from the year ago period! The non-seasonally adjusted numbers were even better. Supply dropped into the single digits, the first time that has happened since February of 2008. Prices were still down substantially from last year. View the report here.

December housing starts fell 15.5% from the November level and were 45% below the year ago numbers. This dismal drop in the year over year figures is exactly what we have been predicting for months now. Learn more about where we think the housing market is headed in 2009.

Deflationary concerns continue to affect Wall Street as the latest core CPI numbers come in flat, or even down if you view the non-seasonally adjusted numbers. See the report here.

The Pending Home Sales index fell by four percent in November and is 5.3% below its year ago level according to NAR. Job losses and declining consumer confidence were key factors, again according to NAR. While we appreciate indices such as these, our predictions which utilize proprietary methods have proved strikingly accurate in the past!

The National Association of Realtors has released its forecast for 2009! NAR predicts that the housing affordability index will be at its highest level during the first six months of 2009. After that a combination of higher mortgage rates and increasing prices for both new and existing homes will drop the index in the second half of the year. See the data at NAR or read our housing market predictions here.

Existing Home Sales fell 8.6% - worse than expected - and median prices were down more than thirteen percent from a year ago. You can read the consolidated report on Fox News by clicking here.

New Single Family Home sales were down two point nine percent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis. That is down 35.3% from the year ago numbers. Our analysis and housing market predictions for 2009 are currently in progress and will be reported on the Housing Predictions for 2009 Homepage when available.

Lending for commercial real estate has skidded to a stop, according to the National Association of Realtors. You can read their insightful article on Commercial Real Estate Lending here.

The Pending Home Sales Index was down only one percent in October of 2008 versus the year ago period. NAR indicates that the index is "remarkably stable" despite the economy. Read the original report by clicking here.

Great news for home buyers, home sellers and the U.S. economy is how the National Association of Realtors^® greeted the announcement by the Federal Reserve that it will purchase housing-related debts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thus freeing up mortgage money on Main Street. Read the story at NAR here.

NAR reported the largest existing home sales price decline on record for the previous month: down eleven point three percent to approximately $183,000. Sales themselves were down more than three percent month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Construction of new homes fell by the highest level ever recorded since 1959. The previous slowest pace ever on record was in 1991. See the report on Fox News here.

The global credit market crisis continues to harm the housing market. Credit markets are getting better, but only at a snails' pace. The National Association of Realtors today announced that existing home sales rose 5.5 percent in September as compared to the August numbers. More significantly the numbers were up 1.4% over the year ago numbers. This is the first year over year increase since November of last year. NAR does not predict a recession. Although they do predict tepid growth in the fourth quarter of this year. Mortgage rates are expected to continue to rise, but at a very slow pace. NAR further projects that the bottom for new home sales will be in the fourth quarter of 2009. The projection for price bottoming in the existing home sale market is the first quarter of next year while they say the bottom is currently forming for prices in regards to new homes. Perhaps most importantly NAR predicts that the fourth quarter of 2008 is when houses will be most affordable. They project a significant decline in peoples ability to purchase homes in 2009, and do not predict that their housing affordability index will return to current levels in the second, third or fourth quarters of 2009. You can see our housing predictions here.

The pending home sales index for August was up an unexpected 7.4% month over month and up 8.8% over last year. This is encouraging news in the Real Estate market as we move into the Fall season.

New Home Sales were down 11.5% from the previous month and down 34.5% from the year ago numbers. As we look back we see that our October 2007 prediction was amazingly accurate, but even as others started to come on board and claim that the housing market was recovering we warned that the numbers were too low and we would likely see another dip in sales. Once again that materialized. We continue to analyze the data for insights into where the markets may be headed, though past performance is never a guarantee of future results. See the latest housing market predictions here.

Existing home sales fell 2.2% according to NAR. The expectation was for a decline of only one point two percent. NAR directly attributes the worse than expected reading to tightened credit. Median prices were down nine and a half percent over this time last year.

Support is gaining for executive pay restrictions to be put in place for any company accepting part of the proposed $700 Billion bad loan bailout program. Tight credit is expected to continue in the immediate future and negatively affect the ability of people to purchase homes. Responsible lending to informed consumers is what is required to end the crisis.

NAR continues to predict that mortgage rates will continue to rise going into next year.

Limited inflation this year. So says the government in its latest release which reported core inflation up two tenths of a percent in August. That puts us only one tenth of a percent higher than this time last year. It appears that higher food and gas prices have not leaked substantially into the core rate and inflation may not be a major concern until sometime in 2009. Read the Strong Dollar Theory Report here.

We predict it - then it happens. Back in October of 2007 we predicted that the housing market would begin to recover in the first quarter of 2008. Just as we predicted new home sales rose in February and again in March. In April they stayed the same as they had been in March and we worried that we might enter a secondary dip in the market, though we made no predictions at that time as to how long or deep that dip might become. The May, June and July numbers continued to be down month over month, again confirming our second dip theory. In fact when we published our last Housing Market Prediction Report, the media was hyping the increase in home sales. But we warned that the numbers were far more ominous that being reported through traditional media sources. Today the National Association of Realtors released its Pending Home Sales Index, which, in their words, is a forward looking indicator. The last report showed an increase of 5.8%. Would this report show another increase, even if it were to be a smaller one? No such luck. Following our prediction to the T we find that the PHSI fell by 3.2%. NAR goes on to say that the longer term trend of this index is flat. We think that a flat market is the best we can hope for over the next few months. Stay tuned as our prediction page is updated monthly!

The unemployment rate in Kootenai County has doubled over the past year and hurts the economy in general as well as the home buyer and home seller market. Read the article in the Coeur d'Alene Press here.

Meanwhile the government may become more involved with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Read more about this significant event on Fox News right here.

Housing starts are down eleven percent to the lowest level in seventeen years. A clear sign that the housing market continues its struggle to regain its feet. Read the report on Fox News here.

Fox News is reporting that home foreclosures jumped by 53% in the month of June versus June 2007. Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Michigan and California continue to lead in foreclosures. See the foreclosure article here.

Sales of new single family homes were down 2.5% below the month ago rate and 40.3% below the year ago figures. The latest day may suggest a stall in the slow recovery process. See the predictions page for more.

Building permits were down 1.3% from April 2008 and down more than thirty six percent from the year ago number. Housing starts were 3.3% below the April number and down thirty two percent from a year ago. Single family housing starts were down one percent from April. Housing completions were up 11.6% since April but is still down almost twenty seven percent from a year ago. Single family housing completions were up 8.9%.

Again the data is flat to weak, but still seems to suggest that a slow recovery is in place as we predicted.

April pending home sales unexpectedly bounced 6.3% on a seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to National Association of Realtors . Economists expected sales to fall 0.4%. The reading is the highest since October, but is still 13% below one year ago. Nevertheless it does lend further credence to our prediction!

Tax figures are in and the assessor says that property tax values declined by two to five percent over the last years assessed values.

But as is typical of taxing authorities, they lag the market. Some upside pricing pressure is already starting to take hold in the new home market, and NAR expects existing homes to follow suit later this year or early next year. To see the original article on tax assessed values visit the Coeur d'Alene Press.

The latest new home sales report is out and has been incorporated in our Housing Predictions Article. Some news sources are reporting it as "surprising." See one of those articles by clicking here.

NAR goes on the record - again! As you probably already know we made our prediction on the housing recovery in October of last year, and it appears that prediction was indeed accurate. Meanwhile we have sometimes teased the National Association of Realtors as they flip flopped back and forth in their opinions over the months. Then we got excited when, in the late first quarter and early second quarter, NAR finally reiterated the same opinion twice in a row! Now they seemed to agree with us, and they seemed to be sticking with it - how exciting! Well now NAR had released a video that again reiterates and presents their case for a second half housing recovery.

Just remember, you heard it here first! The National Association for Business Economics said today that the housing slump will end this year. They provide additional insight to the economy as well. Read the report on Fox News here. In addition to this latest report the Wall Street Journal recently released an opinion piece which also proclaimed the housing slump to be over! So it is truly starting to appear that our original prediction issued in October of 2007 may in fact have been correct. Score one more point for proprietary data analysis and compilation.

Core inflation appears to be in check with the most recent report showing a small one tenth of one percent uptick in both the seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted numbers. It is a bit baffling as to why the non-core inflation has not trickled into the core numbers. Read our report on the US Dollar and inflation here.

Has it finally bottomed? For the third time in a row the National Association of Realtors has released a report indicating that the bottom may be in. "A flat pattern in home sales activity should continue for the next couple months before improving over the summer, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®." Truly amazing given how they waffled back and forth from the third quarter of last year through the first quarter of this year. But once again NAR has agreed with our latest predictions, now indicating that the bottom is in but also that the bottom will be flatter and lengthier than we originally anticipated.

Less than two months until our Coeur d'Alene Area Real Estate article will be updated with its semi-annual data! This week we will be working on our Strong Dollar Inflationary Report. A sustained period of inflation could hurt the housing market - so keep your eyes peeled for updates to that article as well. Meanwhile Kootenai County mortgages are running fast and furious, according to IHA. In the dismal 2006 housing market only 162 IHA loans were made. In the first four months of this year 140 loans have already been made through IHA. See the IHA Loan Article in the CDA Press.

NAR released its Existing Home Sales Report. Sales were down two percent over last month and 19.3% from the year ago figure. Preliminary sales price numbers were $200,700, down 7.7% over last years prices at this time. However those numbers reflect seasonal adjustments. The non-seasonally adjusted numbers were up in all areas against the month ago figures, though still down from last year. View the entire report by clicking here. New Home Sales figures will be released on Thursday.

NAR releases its latest predictions! THE BOTTOM IS IN! So says the National Association of Realtors in regards to existing home sales. NAR is expecting flat sales through the Spring and then a gradual recovery for the rest of 2008. Prices of existing homes are still expected to drop about 1.2% before moving up about three and a half percent in 2009. Read the predictions here.

Pending home sales fell one and a half percent in December. Read the story on Fox News

December new home sales have been released. An estimated 774,000 new homes were sold in 2007. This is 26.4% below the 2006 figures. Read the report from Commerce by clicking here.

The National Association of Realtors has issued its December 2007 report on Existing Home Sales and EHS Prices. For single families, condos and co-ops; Non-seasonally adjusted figures were down 23.2% over the prior year, with the West being hit the hardest and down more than 28%. Average sales price of existing homes was down almost five percent (the median was down six percent) and the west was down 7.8% on average or more than eleven percent on median.

New home construction starts in 2007 sat at 1.353 million, down almost twenty five percent from the previous year. It was the second largest drop in recorded history. Indeed the dismal news that we predicted back in the third quarter of last year is now coming to bear - and strengthens our belief that a bottom is forming. See the story on Fox Business

An article has been posted which suggests a method by which foreclosures can be reduced and home buyers can be more informed - helping them to avoid predatory lending practices. Read the Foreclosure Avoidance Article here.

The Absorption Rate is a method proposed by NAR to help home sellers better understand the current housing market. We enhance the recommendations of NAR by constructing an online AR Calculator and by telling you how you can use the figure to zero in on a listing price as suggested by a CMA (Competitive Market Analysis)

The National Association of Realtors now believes that existing home sales will increase only slightly in 2008 and start a more significant recovery in 2009. Preliminary pricing data seems suggests to NAR that 2007 prices were down a bit less than two percent, may hold steady this year and then increase in 2009 by about three percent.

NAR is also reporting that they expect a decline in new home sales in 2008. Despite pushing the new home sales recovery into 2009 NAR says that new home prices were down about two percent in 2007 and they may rise four tenths of a percent in 2008 and then finally show a significant price increase in 2009 as NAR projects a near six percent price increase for new homes.

The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of existing single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses rose 0.4% in November from October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million units. Over the last 12 months, however, existing home sales have plunged 20%, underscoring the troubles in the housing sector.

Just reported by the Dept. of Commerce, November New Home Sales fell to 647K or 9%, from a the prior revised reading of 711K.

Home foreclosures are down from a month ago - but don't get too excited. The figure is still up a whopping 68% from the year ago figure! Read the report on Fox Business News for a better understanding of the depth and breadth of the foreclosure problem.

The Federal Reserve joined with Canadian and European central banks yesterday in a massive operation to inject as much as $64 billion into global money markets to prod reluctant banks into making loans again. Read the article in the Washington Times by clicking here.

The Coeur d'Alene Press reports that residential listings are up twenty percent from a year ago, but down five percent from last month. For the six month period ending on October 31st the average sales price is down half a percent while the median sales price is down four percent. Read the original article in The Press by clicking here.

President Bush is unveiling a plan to freeze some sub-prime mortgage rates for five years in an effort to stem the tide of foreclosures. Read the full article here on Fox News.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has released its latest report on New Home Sales. New single family home sales increased 1.7% from the month ago figure but is still down more than twenty-three percent from the year ago figure. These new figures are being fed into our proprietary prediction algorithm and we will post any changes to the prediction page once that process is complete. Make sure you have signed up to receive updates for the housing prediction page if you have not already done so by clicking here and entering your email address!

The National Association of Realtors has issued its third quarter sales estimates for existing single family homes. The difference between what is projected nationally versus what is projected in the Coeur d'Alene and Spokane Washington areas is quite significant! Although our Real Estate Predictions for the 2008 Housing Market is based on new home sales data instead of existing, this report from NAR still lends credence to our own proprietary report. Read our predictions and the latest updates by clicking here.

Once again other companies are illegally taking advantage of our tremendous popularity. Tens of thousands of emails are being sent with forged headers which appear to make the emails come from Data Choices LLC, but in reality are coming from China, Canada and other countries outside the U.S. These forged emails are selling Viagra, pirated software and other products and services that have NOTHING to do with Real Estate, the housing market or optimization for your web site for Internet promotion and marketing purposes! Official emails from Data Choices LLC will ALWAYS comply with CAN-SPAM and have an easy unsubscribe option posted at the bottom of the email! If you ever have any doubt you may go to our support form and copy and paste the email there and we will let you know if it really came from our office! We do not and never will support illegally forged SPAM!

The National Association of Realtors reports stabilization in the commercial real estate market. The Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity slipped only one tenth of one percent to a value of 120.6 in the third quarter from a record reading of 120.7 in the second quarter, but remains 0.7 percent higher than the third quarter of 2006 when it stood at 119.7. The dip follows nine consecutive quarterly increases; NAR’s track of the index dates back to 1990. See their full report by clicking here.

Pending home sales rose two tenths of one percent from last month. Unfortunately the number is still down more than twenty percent from the year ago level. Read the report from NAR by clicking here.

Pending home sales are due to be released today at noon (PST). Expectations are for a decline, but one that is smaller than last month's.

The Joint Economic Committee releases its report on foreclosures that includes some dire warnings about the U.S. Economy. Read the document by clicking here.

Foreclosures more than doubled from last year according to third quarter figures from RealtyTrac Inc. And third quarter figures were also up almost 34% from the second quarter of this year. Nevada was the worst with one foreclosure for every sixty one homes, followed by California at one for every 88 homes and Florida took third place with one foreclosure in every 95 households.

Countrywide, who has been in the midst of the mortgage default firestorm, reported today that it lost $1.2 Billion in its third quarter. Countrywide was forced to set aside millions in loan-loss provisions and write downs and it was their first reported loss in twenty five years. Despite that Countrywide predicted that it would be profitable not only next year, but in the fourth quarter of this year as well! Could that be the Housing Market Turnaround that we have been predicting?

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that New Home Sales for September fell more than 23% over the year ago YTD figures! They do caution that this number is plus or minus eight percent, which is a very hefty margin of error. They further report that the median sales price was $238,000 and the average sales price was $288,000. (Average versus mean is used statistically to help determine how significant the median or average numbers are as they relate to standard deviations) See our updated predictions here.

Current inventory stands at 8.3 months. You may view the original report by clicking here.

NAR also reported that the national average sale price fell 4.2% for September. This initial data would seem to suggest that prices have a bit further to fall before a recovery can take hold. The Midwest experienced a price increase of 1.4% and a half percent gain in price was seen in the Northeast. The hardest hit area price-wise was the West, down 8.8%, followed by the South, down five and a half percent. See the full report from NAR here.

NEWSFLASH: Based on data from the Census Bureau and in regards to new homes sold we are now anticipating a bottom to the housing market in terms of new units sold in the first quarter of 2008. We believe that the first quarter numbers will be dismal (data should be released near the end of April 2008) and people will begin thinking and speaking the worst of the housing market based on the data. But the recovery will already be underway and we expect a strong recovery in the second quarter of 2008 (2Q data to be released in July 2008). This analysis is only an opinion and should not be relied upon for investment purposes. The analysis is based on government data (U.S. Census Bureau Data). Analysis techniques used are proprietary to Data Choices and the end results are merely an opinion. See the housing recovery report by clicking here!

Sellers are offering incentives to bring in buyers, including paying closing costs and points to help the buyers qualify. This as the result of the tighter credit market due to mortgage defaults. Read the complete story in the CDA Press by clicking here!

KB Homes announced that its CEO would retire next year. Additionally, in a particularly negative outlook the company said that it did not expect the housing market to recover until 2009 at the earliest. We think we will see a bottom before 2009. Read the KB Homes announcement on Reuters by clicking here.

240 foreclosed homes were auctioned off in the Washington D.C. area recently. Many were from homeowners who had little choice except to walk away from mortgages they could not afford. Read the Foreclosed Home Auction Story in the Washington Times.

Recently an unscrupulous company in China has been emailing tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people and using the Data Choices name. While we are proud of our marketing efforts (you can go to Google or Yahoo and simply type in our name, Data Choices, and we will return on the FIRST Page!) there are companies that seek to take an illegal piggyback ride on our success.

They are primarily selling pirated software and Viagra - neither of which Data Choices sells. If this were a domestic company we would use the full strength of the law to stop them. Unfortunately that is not the case. Official Data Choices marketing emails always contain unsubscribe information at the bottom of the email. If a clear and easy method to unsubscribe from the marketing list is not provided then you can be assured that the email did NOT come from Data Choices!

New Home Sales in August fell 12.8% from August of 2006. The drop was larger than expected. Housing inventory rose four tenths of a percent and at current sales rates a ten month supply is now on the market. The inability for some to obtain mortgages given the tighter credit market was blamed in part.

Last week the Senate moved to make FHA reforms which may help prospective homeowners obtain financing for their dream home! The National Association of Realtors applauds the move. Read the article!

Twenty years in the Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors earned Anne Anderson, co-owner of Lakeshore Realty and a certified commercial investment member, the respect of her peers. Anderson was named the association's Realtor of the Year 2007 at Wednesday's general membership meeting of the organization.

Kelly Hanson (left and 2006 Realtor of the Year) and Anne Anderson, the new 2007 recipient!

Real Estate Marketing Strategies, or Real Estate SEO is a tricky business! Data Choices would like to help you succeed!

According to the National Association of Realtors, preliminary sales of existing homes were down nine percent in July over the year ago period. The hardest hit areas continue to be the west and the south. This can, in turn, be harmful to North Idaho and Spokane, given that so many people relocate from California, Arizona and Nevada.

More information can be garnered and theorized when we look at prices versus the year ago period. Throughout the U.S. prices were down only six tenths of one percent, to just under $229,000. This is still higher than the almost $222,000 sale price average for all of 2006! Additionally, in one of the hardest hit areas (the west) prices were actually up by nine tenths of a percent! In the south prices fell 3.2%, though they are still up over the average 2006 whole year selling price.

So what does all this mean? When existing home sales are down in a region and supply continues to grow, prices will usually fall until they reach the new equilibrium price created by the supply/demand graph. So the rise in prices in the west defies that standard economic theory and says one of two things:

They are holding out either because they cannot afford to sell for less or don't feel like they need to sell . . . yet.

Meanwhile the prices in the south fell, but at about one third the rate at which existing home sales were down. Again, a similar type situation may be developing. Our data and trend analysis in this area continues.

The Washington Times today reports that the subprime housing crisis has hit the auto makers - including Toyota.

Ford sales were down more than fourteen percent, Chrysler down more than six percent and even Toyota was down almost three percent. GM managed to buck the trend and its sales were up more than six percent over the year ago period.

It has been widely reported that many people used the housing boom to create their own personal ATM - refinancing their loans at the higher assessed values and then taking cash out - not only their built up equity from their previous loan but also cash reflecting the newly valued higher price of the home, essentially repurchasing their own home. People then used the cash to buy cars and other products which helped spur the U.S. economy.

But as they say, all good things must end. And with house values down twenty percent or more in many areas, people are struggling to make higher mortgage payments - forced to cut spending elsewhere. Adding to this are the people that bought houses solely for the purpose of "flipping" them, now saddled with the inability to unload the house for what they paid.

And finally there are the "too creative" financing schemes that have put many families in trouble. The Mortgage Bankers Association, ahead of its September 6th conference call to address foreclosures, released the following information:

As of June 30 this chart represents the non owner-occupied homes in default in relation to loan type, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association

Example: Of the total defaults in Nevada, thirty two percent of prime loan defaults were non owner occupied and twenty four percent of the sub-prime defaults were non owner occupied. *Defaults or seriously delinquent.

This seems to indicate that about a quarter of the defaulting properties are either rentals or "flippers" in most of the U.S. Unfortunately for North Idaho and Spokane, Arizona, California and Nevada are huge feeder markets for this part of the country. The extremely high rate of more speculative real estate ventures in these states has hurt and is likely to continue to hurt the North Idaho Real Estate market for awhile to come.

Stay tuned for the September 6th conference call from the Mortgage Bankers Association in regards to defaulting or seriously delinquent loans.

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Pending Home Sales Rise for Record Eight Straight Months