Morning Briefing: Housing market healthy says Nationwide

Housing market healthy says Nationwide… Pending sales up 50 per cent in this market… Murdoch lists NYC townhouse…

Housing market healthy says Nationwide
The latest housing market assessment from Nationwide says that overall the US housing market is healthy with major metros looking strong and local housing markets expected to see sustainable expansion in the near term.

However, there are challenges from low oil prices, affecting housing market outlooks in areas such as Texas and Louisiana.

While there was a slowdown shown in Nationwide’s Health of Housing Markets Report in the fourth quarter of 2015, the economists believe that solid job growth and household formation should see an uptick going forward.

The top 3 MSA’s surveyed for the report are: Dayton, OH; Yakima, MA; and Cleveland-Elyria, OH. The bottom 3 are: Houma-Thibodaux, LA; Laredo, TX; and Lafayette, TX.   
 
Pending sales up 50 per cent in this market
Pending home sales in Massachusetts in March surged by 50 per cent compared to a year earlier. The figures show that homebuyers confidence remains high in the market with 16 per cent of realtors reporting the start of 2016 as the busiest quarter they have seen.

Single-family homes saw the largest rise in sales; pending sales were up 54 per cent to 6,431. Pending sales of condos were still strong though with an annual increase of 26 per cent to 2,401 units.

Median prices were up 3.1 per cent for single-family homes to reach $329,900 in March; for condos is was a 0.2 per cent rise to $307,500.

“This time last year we were still digging out from a record snowfall, which explains some of the increase in pending sales since last March,” said 2016 MAR President Annie Blatz, branch executive at Kinlin Grover Real Estate on Cape Cod. “Moreover, the increase shows us that homebuyers continue to want seek homeownership in Massachusetts.”

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors’ confidence index was up more than 5 per cent as realtors reported growing optimism. However, the index on price confidence was down more than 5 per cent suggesting an easing of selling prices.
 
Murdoch lists NYC townhouse
Rupert Murdoch has listed a New York City townhouse for $28.9 million just a month after his wedding to model Jerry Hall. The media tycoon bought the Greenwich Village house a year ago for $25 million. Realtor.com reports that the house has 6,500 square feet of living space plus a roof terrace, seven bathrooms, four bedrooms, elevator and views including the Empire State Building.