Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of August 27, 2012 – Home prices have certainly been marked down from their highs of a few years ago, and buyers seem to be finally realizing there are some very nice homes out there at some very nice prices. The latest evidence came when Existing Home Sales shot UP 2.3% in July to a 4.47 million unit annual rate. Sales of these homes are now UP 10.4% from a year ago. But those contemplating a purchase should not dally. The median price of an existing home is UP 9.4% over a year ago, the largest gain since the peak in early 2006! Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of August 20, 2012 – Home builders last week showed plenty of evidence they are both hopeful and confident. July new Building Permits came in UP 6.8%, to an 812,000 annual rate. In fact, July saw the most single-family building permits filed since August 2008, the month before the Lehman collapse and the financial market meltdown. Versus a year ago, permits for single-family homes are now UP 23.0%. Continue reading →

Texas Mortgage Market Update – For the week of August 13, 2012 – Some of the actions we’re seeing in the housing market should lead us to a better destiny. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported median sale prices for single-family homes posted year-over-year gains in Q2 in 110 of 147 markets. This is up from 74 markets showing annual price appreciation in Q1. The national median sale price of existing single-family homes in Q2 was up 7.3% over a year ago, the biggest annual increase in six years! Continue reading →