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Housing Trends August 2012 Newsletter

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The Housing Trends eNewsletter contains the latest information from the National Association of REALTORS®, the U.S. Census Bureau, Realtor.org reports and other sources.

The Housing Trends Newsletter contains the latest information from the National Association of REALTORS®, the U.S. Census Bureau, Realtor.org reports and other sources.

Housing Trends Newsletter is filled with local and national real estate sales and price activity provided by MLSs and the National Association of Realtors, U.S. Census Bureau key market indicators, consumer videos, blogs, real estate glossary, mortgage rates and calculators, consumer articles, and REALTOR.com local community reports.

Please click on this link to view the Housing Trends AUGUST – 2012 Newsletter

If you are interested in determining the value of your home, click the “Home Evaluator” link for a free evaluation report.

Bob Elliot – REALTOR®

612 578 6162

bob@minnesotahomestoday.com

 

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Rated 3rd Top Mid-Sized U.S. City For 2012

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Top Places To Live 2012 EditionCNNMoney has released its Best Places To Live 2012 list.

The annual survey is based on data from Onboard Informatics. Using Quality of Life factors such as education, crime and “town spirit”, and focusing on towns with between 50,000 and 300,000 residents, this year’s survey ranks the country’s best mid-sized cities.

To be eligible for ranking, towns must have a median household income greater than 85 percent, and less than 200 percent, of the state median income; must not be a categorized as a “retirement community” or a town with “major job loss”; and must be racially-diverse.

From a list of 744 eligible towns nationwide, Carmel, Indiana ranked first.

The complete Top 10 Best Places to Live as cited by CNNMoney, and average local home listing price as of July 2012 follows :

  1. Carmel, Indiana ($304,340 average listing price)
  2. McKinney, Texas ($245,917 average listing price)
  3. Eden Prairie, Minnesota ($413,566 average listing price)
  4. Newton, Massachusetts ($850,117 average listing price)
  5. Redmond, Washington ($518,982 average listing price)
  6. Irvine, California ($904,753 average listing price)
  7. Reston, Virginia ($467,934 average listing price)
  8. Columbia, Maryland ($406,943 average listing price)
  9. Overland Park, Kansas ($278,204 average listing price)
  10. Chapel Hill, NC ($376,660 average listing price)

In addition to ranking its Top 10 Best Places To Live, CNNMoney also offers a host of data on the top-ranked 100 cities at its website. See whether your hometown ranks, and what the data says about your town.

As you review the rankings, however, remember that while lists like these can be helpful to a home buyer in Minneapolis/St Paul , all “Best Place To Live”-like surveys are subjective. A bottom-ranked town may have no less appeal to you as an individual than a top-ranked one.

Every city has something to offer to its residents.

Therefore, before making a decision to buy a home, make sure to connect with a real estate agent with local market knowledge. That’s the best, most reliable way to make sure you’re getting the data on the market that matters most to you.

Mortgage Rates Dropping After Release Of Fed Minutes

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Fed minutes August 2012Eariler this week, the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its 2-day meeting which ended August 1, 2012. Since the release, mortgage rates have dropped.

The Fed Minutes are released on a schedule, three weeks after the FOMC adjourns from one of its 8 scheduled meetings of the year.

The Fed Minutes are meeting minutes; like you’d see after a corporation shareholder meeting, or after a condo board meeting. Specifically, the Fed Minutes details the conversations among Federal Reserve members which shape our nation’s economic policy.

The most recent Fed Minutes show a central bank closer to adding new market stimulus that previously believed.

At its last meeting, the Federal Reserve’s debate focused on the rate of economic growth and whether it was occurring too slowly to be long-lasting. The Fed appears to think so. Without a “substantial and sustainable strengthening” in the pace of economic expansion, it said, additional monetary stimulus would be “warranted fairly soon”.

Other notes from within the Fed Minutes included :

  • On employment : Unemployment rates will “decline only slowly”
  • On housing : The market appears “to have improved, somewhat”
  • On inflation : Retail energy costs are keeping consumer prices low

However, the Fed expressed an “unusually high level of uncertainty” about its assessments owing to the ongoing European sovereign debt problems. “Spillovers” remain possible and default threats continue to weigh on markets. 

The Federal Reserve’s next scheduled meeting is September 12-13, 2012.

Since the minutes were released — and for the first time this month — mortgage rates in Minnesota made a big move lower. This is in contrast to the rest of August through which mortgage rates have climbed steadily.

According to Freddie Mac, on August 1, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate was 3.49% nationwide. Today, the rate is 3.66%. Between now and the Fed’s next policy-making meeting September 13, though, mortgage rates are subject to change. If today’s mortgage rates fit your budget, consider locking in.

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