News, Trends, Community - September

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said a soft sales pace likely will continue for a few additional months. “Consumers rationally jumped into the market before the deadline for the home buyer tax credit expired. Since May, after the deadline, contract signings have been notably lower and a pause period for home sales is likely to last through September,” he said. “However, given the rock-bottom mortgage interest rates and historically high housing affordability conditions, the pace of a sales recovery could pick up quickly, provided the economy consistently adds jobs.

“Even with sales pausing for a few months, annual sales are expected to reach 5 million in 2010 because of healthy activity in the first half of the year. To place in perspective, annual sales averaged 4.9 million in the past 20 years, and 4.4 million over the past 30 years,” Yun said.

59% of Americans considered green alternatives for their home improvement projects in the last quarter with window energy efficiency being the leading green home improvement project.

Source: ServiceMagic

Real Estate

Homeowners More Pessimistic
Homeowners are more pessimistic about the short-term future of home values in their local market than they have been in the past three quarters, according to the Zillow second-quarter Homeowner Confidence Survey. One-third believe home values in their local housing market have not yet reached a bottom, while 38 percent believe they have already reached a bottom. Despite the increasing pessimism, a large number of homeowners anxiously await the opportunity to sell. Five percent of U.S. homeowners say they are very likely to put their home on the market in the next six months if they see signs of a real estate market turnaround.

Trades

Web Site for Trade Contractors
Guildshare, LLC announced that its Web site, http://guildshare.com/, is now open for business. Guildshare.com enables independent trade contractors to share tradesmen in an online exchange format. After signing up, contractors can post the availability of their own tradesmen so that others can search for and book them online.

Kitchen & Bath

Cabinet Demand to Grow
U.S. demand for cabinets is forecast to expand 7.4 percent per year to $15.2 billion in 2014, according to The Freedonia Group, Inc. While the new housing market will experience solid growth, the improvement and repair segment will continue to account for the majority of residential demand.

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