Existing home sales across the U.S. grew 0.8 percent in February over the previous month, pushing them to the highest level since November 2009, according to National Association of Realtors data cited by the Wall Street Journal.

The slight increase raised the seasonally adjusted annual rate to 4.98 million — 10.2 percent higher than in February 2012 — for the 20th consecutive month of year-over-year gains. [more]

Diana Olick of CNBC
Existing home sales nationwide were down up 11 percent year-over-year in September, CNBC’s Diana Olick reports in the video after the jump. The national total of 4.75 million units sold was in line with projections and represents the continued move away from the sale of distressed assets in the national housing market, Olick said.

The median U.S. home price was $183,900 in September, Olick said, up 11 percent year-over-year. This is further evidence of the move away from distressed sales, which can be a deceptive indicator of overall pricing. Olick warns: “regular prices of regular homes are not up that high.” [more]

Homes across the United States are beginning to sell more quickly, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors released Wednesday. The average home transacted within 69 days of being listed last month, a 29.6 percent drop from the same period in 2011. “As inventory has tightened, homes have been selling more quickly,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. That increased sales pace could lead to a median existing home price increase of between 4.5 and 5 percent this year, according to the latest NAR forecast. — Alexander Britell

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants you to see the full appraisal report on the house you’re buying or refinancing as early in the mortgage process as possible, and without your having to ask the lender for it.

This means all the “comparable” properties the appraiser selected, adjustments for property condition or location, plus all additional data especially computer-generated estimates — that may have been used to arrive at the final value. It also means you would get to see who performed the appraisal and whether he or she is merely licensed in the state or carries a professional designation — letters such as “SRA” after the name indicating higher levels of training and experience. Plus it would give you an idea about whether the appraiser is locally based and thus knowledgeable about neighborhood sales and listing trends, or has traveled from another part of the state. [more]

A U.S. housing market with rising demand but stagnant prices may be the new normal, according to the New York Times. The numbers bore that out yesterday when the National Association of Realtors reported prices decreased between June and July even as sales of existing homes rose 2.3 percent over that same period.

Even though concerns that a backlog of distressed properties would hit the market have mostly subsided, sales of new homes have trended higher and there is generally percieved to be a shortage of residential inventory, the Times suggested that prices would barely increase over the next decade. [more]

Growth of $10,000 over last three years in the Vanguard REIT Index

Though real estate investment trusts’ returns are diminishing, they’re not losing any popularity among investors because so many other investment vehicles are actually in negative yield territory, according to the New York Times.

The latest figures from the National Association of Realtors and CoStar show residential and commercial property prices have gained 7.9 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, in the last year. As a result, the Vanguard REIT Index returned 2.8 percent in the second quarter and real estate mutual funds returned 3.5 percent. [more]

Fears of a financial relapse were renewed this spring — as they were at this time a year ago — but the National Association of Realtors is attributing weakening home sale figures to a supply shortage. Sales of existing homes fell 1.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.55 million, according to NAR. The number of sales is still 9.6 percent greater than May 2011′s pace. [more]

Indians, Scandinavians and now Canadians are benefitting from the recovering Miami condo market, the Canadian Real Estate Magazine reported. As The Real Deal previously reported, Canadians were the largest foreign buyer percentage-wise in Florida in 2011, and they are often paying cash – 65 percent of sales in Miami last quarter were all cash, double the national figure of 32 percent. [more]

Sales and closing prices of existing U.S. homes grew in April and listed inventory fell, indicating a strengthening recovery, according to data released today by the National Association of Realtors.

Completed sales on existing homes increased 3.4 percent from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.62 million in April 2012. Sales are up 10 percent from the 4.2 million rate recorded in April 2011. [more]

It’s not something that economists routinely track, but it provides a rough sense of what’s happening in local real estate markets. Call it the lowball index. A year ago, according to researchers at the National Association of Realtors, one out of 10 members surveyed in a monthly poll complained about lowball offers on houses listed for sale. In the latest survey — conducted during March among a sample of 4,500 agents and brokers across the country and not yet released — there were hardly any. Instead, the focus of volunteered comments has shifted to declining inventory levels — fewer houses available to sell — and multiple offers on well-priced listings.  [more]