Real-Time National Housing Report Released

When we started this company, one of the things we envisioned was creating a National Housing Market Report -- one that would be a right-now alternative to the laggard OFHEO reports and even the Case Shiller releases. Well today is the day, folks. The Altos Research Real IQ National Housing Market Report is here!

In it we look at 20 major metro markets, publish some key stats about pricing and supply and demand trends and we draw some conclusions about what's happening out there. The U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) covered in the report include: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, DC.

We're working in conjunction with Stephen Bedekian from Real IQ. Stephen is an industry leader, writer, and consultant and he helped bring this project together. This being the first issue, it took us a few extra days of editing. In future months, we'll be aiming to publish the report just a few days after month's end.

The latest version of the report is available for download on our financial institutions page. Or you can download the PDF here.

The Press Release headline this month isn't any shocking news - Surprise! Prices are still under pressure! But we're laying the foundation here to be the first to identify the eventual bottom of the market. From the press release:

REPORT: HOUSING PRICES
CONTINUE DECLINE IN NOVEMBER

Time-on-Market
Increased as Housing Market Demand Falls Faster than Supply

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA
- December 13, 2007 – The listing prices on properties in 18 of 20 major markets across the U.S. fell during the month of November. San Diego experienced the steepest decline with listing prices falling 5.8 percent as the recent wildfires exacted a toll on demand. This information was presented in the newly-launched Real-Time National Housing Market Report*, published by Altos Research, the premier source for real-time, real-estate market research and Real IQ™, a market analysis consultancy.

The Real-Time National Housing Market Report is based on an analysis of data from over one million properties currently listed for sale in 20 metropolitan markets across the country and represents the most timely source of housing market data on current market activity.

“Real estate information tends to be highly latent and subject to a lot of revisions,” said Michael Simonsen CEO and co-founder of Altos Research. “It takes several months before the S&P/Case Shiller Index or the
OFHEO data is released for a given month. When you're making investment decisions or trading derivatives these lag times are simply killers.”

Another key trend noted in the new report was an increase in the time-on-market duration for homes on sale in virtually all markets. Miami experienced the longest time-on-market span with an average days-on-market of 137 in November. Minneapolis had the second highest average days-on-market at 125.

Listed property inventory levels displayed seasonal declines in many markets with the exception of Las Vegas where for-sale property listings increased 6.6% over the past three month. “While inventory levels declined in most major markets, the decline in supply could not keep pace with the rapid fall in demand,” said Stephen Bedikian, partner and research director for Real IQ. “We expect time-on-market will continue to lengthen and apply pressure on homeowner pricing decisions until buyers regain confidence and demand levels off. So far that point is not in sight.”

*The first report was published December 7, 2007 and will be released every month. Report downloads are available from Altos Research.