What's New and What's Ahead
For the U.S. Housing Market

Here's a look at what's new in real-estate markets across the U.S. from around the Web. (Some links may require registration or subscriptions.)

Positive forecast for existing-home market

The National Association of Realtors predicts an improved real-estate market for existing homes in 2007, with median prices rising 1.4% this year to $222,600 and another 1% next year to $224,700, says a Wall Street Journal Online article. NAR forecasts that the number of existing-home sales will top the existing quarter's total by 4.6% by the end of the fourth quarter of 2007, the article says. However, the picture for new-home sales is not as good, with the total of new homes sold falling 17.7% this year and 9.4% in 2007, Wall Street Journal Online says.

Home inventory drops

 In November, the number of U.S. homes on the market in 18 metropolitan areas decreased 4% from the month earlier, according to a Wall Street Journal Online report. The change is positive news for the housing market, which has seen falling prices in recent months because of an abundance of homes listed for sale, the article says. National inventories of previously occupied homes for sale normally drop 2% in November from the month before, the Wall Street Journal Online says. Use an interactive graphic to chart housing prices and homes inventories in metropolitan areas across the U.S.

Zillow adds listings to site

Real-estate Web site, Zillow.com, is no longer just for checking out what your home -- or your neighbor's -- might be worth, says a Los Angeles Times article. The site now allows homeowners and Realtors to post for-sale listings (complete with property descriptions and photos) on Zillow -- for free. Web surfers can use the site's zero-cost tools to look up home valuations and sale histories, as well as find out which homes are for sale in a neighborhood -- and at what price. However, one potential drawback is that Zillow will rely "on sellers to voluntarily post information" on for-sale properties -- unlike other Web sites that aggregate real-estate listings, the newspaper notes. The site also has added a "Make Me Move" feature where "less motivated" homeowners (who might not be in a hurry to sell their properties) can post an asking price for their residences. For example, a quick search Monday on Zillow.com for "Naples, Florida" produced 14,053 homes -- 80 for sale, 12 for "make me move" and 13,961 recently sold.

Short sales up in San Diego

As the housing market continues to cool in San Diego, more city homeowners are seeking mortgage debt forgiveness, says an article by the Union-Tribune. In the metro, "short sales" -- transactions in which homeowners sell their homes to settle their debts at reduced sums with a lender -- have increased, the newspaper says. Such sales tend to occur when real-estate prices drop and mortgage debt is greater than a home's value, the article says. In 2005, five homes listed through the local multiple-listing service were described as "short sales," whereas there were 55 such sales as of November 20 of this year, the Union Tribune says. While these transactions avoid foreclosure, such sales could hurt a homeowner's credit rating as well as "reduce the value of entire neighborhoods" if widespread, the Union-Tribune reports.

Bonus money expected to boost sales in Manhattan

Wall Street bonus money -- year-end salary increases paid by Wall Street firms to their employees -- traditionally boosts the Manhattan real-estate market between December through March -- and this year is no exception, says a Daily News article. This year, the payout from five investment banks is expected to reach $36 billion, topping 2005's total of $21.5 billion, the newspaper reports. The sales pace for high-end New York properties picked up the week after Thanksgiving, the article says, with Wall Streeters from their late 20s to 40s either buying their first apartment (for $1 million to $2 million) or trading up to a larger residence, the paper says. For instance, at the Onyx Chelsea, a new apartment project on West 28^th Street, at leave five investment brokers show up at every open house, the article says.

Cape Cod sellers wait for tide to change

Massachusetts home buyers and sellers on Cape Cod are in a "waiting game," according to the Boston Globe.  Many of the properties there are second homes, so homeowners don't feel the need to sell despite the cooling market, the paper says. "The sellers don't need to sell and the buyers don't need to buy," the Globe quotes one local real-estate agent as saying. In October, sales of single-family homes there were 22% below last year's levels, and there are currently 51% more residential properties on the market than last year, the newspaper reports. However, the median sale price for a single-family home, $372,500 is down only 1.97% from last year, the Globe says. In the past three months, 15% of all Cape Cod homes had their asking prices reduced, whereas further west in the state, in Norfolk County, 64% of homes had their prices cut, the newspaper says. 

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