The found several interesting results:

• (44% of individuals whose homes lost value said they expect to recoup their equity losses in three to five years.
• 81% of adults believe buying a home is the best long-term investment a person can make.

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The Cotton and Company sent 65,732 registrants on resort and real estate websites a survey on their home buying intent.

Total responses to date: 807 Survey sent: February 25, 2011 Click the PDF graphic to get the report.

Or visit www.TheCottonSolution.com

Background: The Cotton and Company are industry leaders the sales and marketing of residential real estate throughout the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. Managed more than 1600 properties over the past 28 years. Provides integrated market research, analytics, marketing, web development, public relations, sales management, and customer database management services.

Some of the more salient findings:

The vacation home market has experienced a rebound in 2011, moving from 4% to 36% interest year-over-year. This is the
highest level of interest throughout the 3-year period.
• In 2010, 95% of the respondents who were no longer in the market for real estate cited economic instability as the reason for not
purchasing. In 2011, 46% of the respondents cited no desire to move, indicating a 41% drop in the response aligned with
economic conditions.
• Buyers who must sell their home prior to purchase dropped 10% year-over-year, reflecting 32% in 2011.
• Buyers who plan to purchase within 6 months saw a 21% increase from 2010. In 2011, 25% of the buyers indicate a timeline to
buy within 6 months, however, a 13% increase in the “over 2 years” category was also noted.
• Respondents remained virtually unchanged in their answer to “Have we reached the bottom of the market?” signifying continued
concern over pricing stability.
• The level of anticipated price reduction continues to show improvement in 2011, a result of significant price adjustments in the
market. In 2009, the median anticipated discount was 50%. In 2010, 30%. In 2011, this level has reduced to just 20%.
• Buyer transition indicates a continued trend toward downsizing and geographic relocation. This trend is also reflected in the
increased interest in smaller villa product type.
• 1,700 to 2,300 square feet remains the most popular residence size. However, growth occurred in the smaller home segment
with 31% of the market seeking a home between 1,000 and 1,600 square feet of space.

Mr. Cotton offers up his advice to Realtors and Mortgage pros on how to get their marketing ready to handle the realities of todays real estate market.

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Image by Getty Images via @daylife

This is the biggest drop ever in history!

Meanwhile New home sales is driving much of the current home sales and helping to end the housing slump.

“Existing home sales produce some economic activity but it pales in comparison with new home sales,” said David Crowe, the chief economist for the national Association of Home Builders. “We calculate that for every 100,000 homes built, it creates 150,000 construction jobs but another 150,000 manufacturing jobs building refrigerators, furniture and other products.”

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/10/real_estate/february_foreclosure_realtytrac/index.htm

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Image by New America Foundation via Flickr

“Based on incomes, this is as affordable as it gets,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “If you can get a loan, these are pretty good times to buy.”

Moody’s Analytics track the ratio of median home prices to annual household incomes in 74 markets. By that measure, housing affordability at the end of September had returned to or surpassed the average reached between 1989-2003 in 47 of those markets. Most economists believe the housing boom took off in 2003.

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Image by eqqman via Flickr

San Francisco Gets it January Housing Bump

Emmet , Charlevoix counties County Up

Danville and Alamo California Off and Running in 2011

January in Cape Cod Beats 2010 Housing Numbers

Sarasota and Bradenton Florida Sees More Activity to Close out 2010

January’s most popular real estate news

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• Broward Pending Home Sales Continue to Rise
• Miami-Dade Pending Home Sales Continue to Rise
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• DJSP Enterprises Acquires Timios, Inc.
• California Up in June

Southern California spots two on the list with Northern California getting 1 city.

1. San Jose
   Average Home Price: $511,186
   12-Month Forecast: 3% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 2% increase
2. Santa Ana
   Average Home Price: $449,396
   12-Month Forecast: 3% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 2% increase
3. Bethesda MD
   Average Home Price: $384,775
   12-Month Forecast: 2% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 2% increase
4. Pittsurgh, PA
   Average Home Price: $384,775
   12-Month Forecast: 2% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 2% increase
5. San Diego, CA

   

   Image via Wikipedia

   Average Home Price: $336,679
   12-Month Forecast: 2% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 2% increase

6. Oklahoma City
   Average Home Price: $156,948
   12-Month Forecast: 1% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 6% increase
7. Washington DC
   Average Home Price: $325,014
   12-Month Forecast: 1% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 6% increase
8. Austin Texas
   Average Home Price: $325,014
   12-Month Forecast: 1% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 6% increase
9. Chattanooga, Tenn.
   Average Home Price: $172.948
   12-Month Forecast: 1% increase
   Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 2% increase
10. Boston
    Average Home Price: $326,031
    12-Month Forecast: 1% increase
    Three-Year Annualized Forecast: 2% increase

“The big difference between Florida and Southern California … is people are moving into Southern California, but they’re not moving to Florida,” asserts Winzer. “It was speculative retirement and vacation condos–things that were bought by people not living there and now not moving there, wanting to sell their empty condos because they can’t rent them out.”

http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/21/cities-home-values-prices-real-estate-personal-finance.html?boxes=Homepagelighttop

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Housing starts will probably reach a three-year high of 739,000 in 2010, creating about 500,000 jobs and helping trim the unemployment rate to 9.1 percent, said David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, in an interview with Bloomberg.

“This is an ugly economic cycle,” he said. “We need job creation to get people comfortable with buying a home. If they do that, we’ll create jobs that will reinforce that home buying and fuel additional job growth.”

The CEO of luxury home builder Toll Brothers is optimistic. “The recovery is here to stay,” said Douglas Yearley. “I think 2011 will be an improving year, but I think 2012 will be a big year for us.”

At Fortune.com Billionaire Warren Buffet is among those who believe this is a sign the slump is about to end. Buffet writes: “Prices will remain far below ‘bubble’ levels, of course, but for every seller (or lender) hurt by this there will be a buyer who benefits.”

Pending home sales rose again in November, with the broad trend over the past five months indicating a gradual recovery into 2011, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS ® .

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator, rose 3.5 percent to 92.2 based on contracts signed in November from a downwardly revised 89.1 in October. The index is 5.0 percent below a reading of 97.0 in November 2009. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said historically high housing affordability is boosting sales activity. “In addition to exceptional affordability conditions, steady improvements in the economy are helping bring buyers into the market,” he said. “But further gains are needed to reach normal levels of sales activity.”

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“Despite rising mortgage rates, our forecast for home sales is stronger than the previous forecast, given our brighter economic growth and labor market outlook,” said Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. “We expect modest increases in home sales, despite recent interest rate rises, due in part to modest additional declines in home prices, and we expect people to take advantage of affordability as their employment and income outlook brightens.”

December 2010 Economic Outlook

Duncan says more positives than negatives for first time in a long time. Consumer spending is up. Improved demand for goods and services.

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