Category Archives: Real Estate

Home Construction Spending Increases

Manufacturing strengthened in August after three months of contracting, a hopeful sign the economy is improving. Investors cheered the gain in manufacturing activity but were somewhat disappointed by a government report showing construction spending fell 0.7% in August. The number … Continue reading

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“ecoHOME”

RALEIGH–The 2012 Wake County Parade of Homes had more than 200 new homes on display. The houses will be judged and awarded based on their design and features. In this year’s competition, a handful of the homes entered had something … Continue reading

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ADP counts a September private payroll gain of 162,000 jobs

Services businesses–not goods-producing firms–are the jobs juggernauts of the moment. MarketWatch reports that private payrolls expanded by 162,000 in September, according to payrolls processing firm ADP. The figure beat consensus forecasts by 6%. Friday’s Labor Department employment report on nonfarm … Continue reading

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Parade of Homes

This weekend marks the kickoff of Wake County’s annual Parade of Homes. More than 200 homes featuring the latest and greatest in design, colors, technology and decor and will be on display throughout the county. Builders use the parade to … Continue reading

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U.S. builders likely increased spending

U.S. builders likely increased spending on construction projects in August, helping to fuel a modest recovery in the housing market. Economists forecast that spending grew 0.4 percent in August, according to a survey by FactSet. The Commerce Department will release … Continue reading

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Existing home sales, builder confidence rise

Existing home sales jumped 7.8 percent in August, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. NAR’s latest report produced a much higher than expected number for the market, which was certainly embraced. The August figure was in contrast to the … Continue reading

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Builder Confidence at Six-Year High in September

Confidence among builders about the state of the single-family, new-home market was up for the fifth consecutive month in September, hitting the highest level seen since June 2006, according to the latest reading from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells … Continue reading

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Housing: Year over Year change in Asking Prices

According to housingtracker, median asking prices are up 2.1% year-over-year in early September. We can’t read too much into this increase because these are just asking prices, and median prices can be distorted by the mix. As an example, the median asking price … Continue reading

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Starts, resales due to show growth this week

New home construction and sales of previously owned houses probably climbed in August, a sign residential real estate is one of the economy’s few bright spots, economists said before reports this week. Housing starts increased to a 765,000 annual rate, … Continue reading

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Has urgency kicked in?

The rent-or-buy dilemma gets interesting now that data indicate homeownership is dipping below the Maginot Line vs. rental costs in more and more metros. The Atlantic Cities’ Richard Florida looks at last week’s Trulia data which expressly indicates that in … Continue reading

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