Home prices are rising at a modest pace, at 3.6 percent nationally as of April 2019. However, the pace of price appreciation varies significantly across metro areas, with highly expensive metros ($700,000 or over) showing price declines and less expensive metro areas, usually with the median list price at $400,000 or below, are showing strong price gains.
Accounting for nearly 17 percent of the GDP, real estate is clearly a major driver of the U.S. economy.
Wages are broadly rising faster than inflation in all industries, except for manufacturing and transportation and warehousing.
There continues to be a price mismatch between homebuyers and sellers, according to REALTORS® who responded to NAR’s April 2019 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey.
Amid sustained economic expansion and the lowest unemployment rate since 1953, commercial property prices are still broadly trending upwards although at a modest pace compared to past years.
REALTORS® report “low inventory” and “construction” as the major issues affecting transactions in April 2019.
The Research team presented the committee-directed redesigns and findings of several surveys and data projects to the Research Committee.
In his May 15, 2019 update to members, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun discussed opportunities and challenges facing the commercial market in the year ahead.
In his update at the Residential Economic Issues & Trends Forum, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun spoke about challenges facing the economy, as well as positive developments that members should watch for.
On Wednesday May 15th, NAR Chief Lobbyist Shannon McGahn gave an update on messages for meeting with members of Congress that included several data points from research reports and surveys.
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