Frequently Asked Questions: Housing Indicators

Existing Home Sales

Q: Where do I find month's supply, inventory data, and sales price data for existing home sales?
A: Months' supply data is listed on the Existing Home Sales Overview which covers the past three years of annual data and the past year of monthly data. You can access the PDF files on the EHS page here.  Months' supply data is found in the last column on the right. Inventory is found in the column second from the right. Price data is found at the bottom half of the document.

Q: Does Existing Home Sales data track foreclosures?
A: Our existing home sales data includes some foreclosures but not all. A property must be listed with a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) by Realtors® to be included in our inventory, and sold through an MLS to be included in our sales figures. When a foreclosure sale is not successful, the numbers of sales do not increase and it will get counted in our inventory figure.

Q: If I am part of an MLS or a Local Board, how do I submit monthly data to be included in the EHS data series?
A: Instructions and specifications for submitting existing home sales data can be found here.

 

Housing Affordability

Q: How do I interpret the index?
A: A value of 100 means that a family with the median income has exactly enough income to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home. An index above 100 signifies that family earning the median income has more than enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan on a median-priced home, assuming a 20 percent down payment.

Q: How are a typical family and home defined by NAR?
A: A typical home is defined as the national median-priced, existing single-family home as calculated by NAR. The typical family is defined as one earning the median family income as reported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

 

Local Housing Affordability Index

Q: Does NAR produce a local affordability index?
A: No. We do have some information on the affordability index in our Local Market Reports (you will need your NRDS ID to access it). You can also visit the following sites:
Methodology for the Housing Affordability Index 
2008 Local Market Reports

 

New Home Sales and Inventory

Q: Does NAR keep information on new home sales or inventory?
A: No. Information on new home sales and inventory is collected by the Census Bureau and can be found here. 

 

Pending Home Sales Index

Q: What data are included in the Existing and Pending Home Sales?
A: NAR uses data obtained from Multiple Listing Services (MLSes) to generate the EHS and PHS statistics. Properties that are listed with a Realtors® are included. Properties that are not listed with a Realtors® such as For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO) or auction properties are not included in our statistics.

Q: Does NAR have any data indicating the percentage of pending home sales that are foreclosed properties or similar data for existing home sales?
A: Lawrence Yun gives the most current information on foreclosures in the data in the existing or pending home sales press releases at the beginning of each month. This can be accessed here.