Auction.com Research Releases Inaugural Quarterly Residential Report

Washington, D.C.—Auction.com Research, a division of Auction.com that provides continuous data and analysis across all residential and commercial real estate sectors, today released its first Quarterly Residential Research Report. The report, which is authored by  Auction.com Research managing director Peter Muoio, Ph.D., finds that while the U.S. housing market continues to recover, recent statistics have been somewhat weaker and show that the recovery remains choppy.

The report, which is available to media upon request, also finds:

• The fall in home prices has led to unprecedented affordability in nearly every metro nationwide. However, the affordability situation may change as mortgage rates head north and prices climb. With multifamily rents rising robustly, the buy-rent equation continues to favor purchasing a home even amid the initial recovery in home prices.

• As we have noted for some time, excess inventory of homes for sale dampened potential price recovery over the past few years. The housing inventory correction process is now underway; it has been bumpy but quite impressive, with both new and existing inventories coming down considerably since the housing bust. Recently existing home inventories have increased as we had expected, as previously frustrated sellers list their homes amid improved market conditions.

• The interplay of household formations and homeownership will be the core determinants of both owned single-family and rental housing demand. Household formations have slowed following a surge in late 2011 and 2012, but despite this brewing trouble, home sales are increasing, fueled partially by investor purchases. Homeownership has continued to decline modestly, though the bulk of the adjustment is now likely over.

• New and existing home prices are both experiencing a choppy recovery, and while both are now well off their recessionary trough, there is still a long climb back to their pre-downturn peaks. At the moment, existing home prices and new home prices are up some 14% and 25% from their respective troughs.

• After making only marginal gains since 2009, residential construction jumped in the latter half of 2012. However, since then construction gains have softened, while both single and multifamily housing starts have lost steam since the early part of 2013.