Big Rebound in Existing-Home Sales

From RealTrends.com: Existing-home sales bounced back strongly in September with first-time buyers driving much of the activity, marking five gains in the past six months, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

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Santa Fe Selected As a Top City to Visit

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Conde Nast Traveler today announced the results of its 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards, ranking the best cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, resorts, and car rental agencies worldwide.  The awards appear in the November issue (on newsstands October 20) and are derived from the Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey.  This year, 25,008 readers voted on more than 10,000 properties and destinations.

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Record Streak Continues for Pending Home Sales

From Real Trends.com: Pending home sales have increased for seven straight months, the longest in the series of the index, which began in 2001, according to the latest survey. The Pending Home Sales Index rose 6.4 percent to 103.8 from a reading of 97.6 in July, and is 12.4 percent above August 2008 when it was 92.4. The index is at the highest level since March 2007 when it was 104.5.

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Leading Economists Declare End to Recession

From RealTrends.com: The recession, which began in December 2007, has ended but the nation still faces a long slow recovery, according to economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics. More than 80% of respondents to the quarterly NABE survey said they believe an expansion has begun.

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Construction Spending Up

From RealTrends.com: Construction spending rose 0.8 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted rate of $941.9 billion, above the revised July estimate of $934 billion. The August figure is 11.6 percent lower than a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. During the first eight months of the year, construction spending was about … Read more

September

September 2009 Sales YTD Avg List Price Avg Sale Price Sales YTD September 2008 Value of the Month Las Campanas 33 1,218,679 1,122,224 38 Northwest County 53 740,885 694,189 57 Northeast City 101 735,262 676,604 104 Tesuque 6 1,410,500 1,299,500 15 Santa Fe City 836 478,000 448,906 1042 Santa Fe County 867 472,715 443,064 1086

Pending Home Sales Jump 6.4 Percent

Seventh straight month of gains is highest since March 2007                                                                                     

From Reuters: NEW YORK – Pending sales of existing U.S. homes rose sharply in August, for a seventh consecutive month of gains, reaching the highest since March 2007, data from a real estate trade group showed Thursday.

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Home Prices Rose in June

From RealTrends.com: U.S. home prices rose slightly in July, signaling a stabilizing market, the federal government said recently. But another private home pricing index tells a tale of two Americas-one in housing recovery, and the other still in trouble, according to an article on DSNews.com. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said last week that prices rose 0.3% in July from the prior month-an estimate made possible when June’s numbers were cut from a .5 to a .1% increase.

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Leading Indicators Show Recession ‘Bottoming Out’

RISMEDIA, September 23, 2009—(MCT)—The U.S. recession is bottoming out and a recovery is near, economists for the Conference Board said recently after reporting that the index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6% in August 2009, the fifth straight increase. 

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Builder Confidence Edges up Again in September

From RealTrends.com: Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes edged higher for a third consecutive month in September, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released this week. The HMI rose one point to 19 this month, its highest level since May of 2008. Two … Read more