Confusing Times That $700 billion bail-out package seems to change every day. Will mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be "effectively" or "explicitly" guaranteed? Are banks lending any money to anybody? In his commentary this month, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun discusses some of the confusion as well as a bit of good news about housing against the backdrop of the current turmoil. Read more >

 

Real Estate Professionals Still the #1 Choice

The new 2008 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers was released during the annual meeting in Orlando. The report shows that eight out of 10 buyers purchased their homes through a real estate professional. In addition, over a third of buyers first found the home they purchased via their real estate agent. Our Market Intelligence feature this month highlights results from the new Profile, focusing on home buyers.
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You Didn't Have to be Present to "Win!"

Did you miss Lawrence Yun's presentation on the "Housing Market Outlook Through an Economic Recession" at the recent NAR annual meeting in Orlando? Curious about how to "Turn NAR Statistics into Success?" The good news is that you can access this valuable information via the Research web site.
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Commercial Market Trends: Retail and Multifamily

Last month we looked at how the financial crisis on Wall Street and a slowing economy have been affecting the office and industrial sectors of commercial real estate. This month Research Economist George Ratiu examines the impacts on retail and multi-family properties.
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Existing Home Sales

Existing-home sales declined in June to 4.86 million seasonally adjusted annualized units - a 2.6 percent drop from May's level.  The existing home inventory rose 0.2 percent to an 11.1 month supply at the current sales pace. The national median price for an existing home in June was $215,100 - a 6.1 percent decrease from the median price posted in June 2007, but less than the declines registered in the four previous months.
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Real Estate Insights

Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist
Paul Bishop, Managing Director, NAR Research

Harika "Anna" Barlett, Senior Research Analyst
Wannasiri Chompoopet, Manager of Housing Statistics
Keunwon Chung, Data Research Analyst
Stephanie Davis, Office Manager
Thomas J. Doyle, Research Marketing Manager
Meredith Dunn, Communications Representative
Ken Fears, Manager, Regional Economics
Danielle Hale, Research Economist
Michael Hyman, Research Assistant
George Ratiu, Research Economist
Jed Smith, Managing Director, Quantitative Research
Sophia Stuart, Research Marketing Associate
Caroline Van Hollen, Senior Research Coordinator/Strategic Planning

Copyright ©2008 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Reproduction or reprinting in any form is prohibited without written permission. Editorial questions and requests to reprint articles should be directed to Meredith Dunn at 202/383-1207, or via e-mail at insights@realtors.org.