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The fall housing market isn’t known for being as robust as the spring market, but there are different motivations that tend to attract consumers during this season, experts say.

“We’ve observed in seasonal household buyer patterns that there is a higher ratio of first-time buyers and childless couples in the fall,” says Walter Molony, economic issues media manager at the National Association of REALTORS®. “Families with children time their purchase based on school-year considerations, so they peak in the spring and summer.”

According to a recent ERA Real Estate survey, based on 30,000 of its broker and agents, about 20 percent of buyers are emotionally driven in the fall to purchase a house so that they can be in a new home by the holidays. Ten percent are motivated by tax benefits.

Sellers in the fall tend to be highly motivated too and face less competition with smaller inventories, says Shaun White, vice president for corporate communications for RE/MAX LLC in Denver, Colo.

“Some sellers will opt to lower their price in the fall because they’re afraid of missing the boat and being stuck trying to sell during the holidays,” says White. “Buyer traffic drops in the fall, too, so buyers may have less competition as well as better prices. You find motivated sellers and motivated buyers in the fall, especially as you get closer to the holidays.”

In some areas of the country, such as in Arizona and Florida, the prime selling season doesn’t even begin until the fall as snowbirds come in from the cooler climates looking for new homes, White says.

Source: “Homebuying: Fall Is the New Spring,” HSH.com (Sept. 26, 2012)

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2012/09/28/let-fall-buying-selling-season-begin?om_rid=AACSxz&om_mid=_BQZb71B8uVaAPR&om_ntype=RMODaily

A new Trulia study shows that owning a home is more affordable than renting over a seven-year time frame in America’s 100 biggest cities.

Trulia collected data on homes for sale and for rent from its Web site between June 1, 2012 and August 31, 2012, and factored in such items as transaction costs, taxes, and opportunity costs. The study assumes that the home is sold after seven years and includes closing costs, maintenance, insurance, property taxes and other costs. The cost of renting includes security deposit and renters insurance.

Trulia found that nationally, owning is 45 percent cheaper than renting, with affordability highest in Detroit and lowest in Honolulu and San Francisco.

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2012/09/18/in-buy-vs-rent-home-buying-wins-again?om_rid=AACSxz&om_mid=_BQWMTOB8uI5qqc&om_ntype=RMODaily

Economists are increasingly confident that home prices have bottomed out.

For the last three years, home prices have usually risen in the spring and summer to only then lose all of those increases—plus more—in the fall and winter months. However, economists expect this year to be different and do not foresee such a big drop to occur to home prices in the colder months ahead, The Wall Street Journal reports.

While the fall months likely will bring out some sort of decrease in recent home price increases, “we have a much better supply and demand dynamic” than in previous years, Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, told The Wall Street Journal.

Home prices have posted some of their largest year-over-year jumps compared to the last six years. According to CoreLogic, home prices have risen 9.6 percent from February, which was the month prices reached their lowest levels since the housing slowdown. Economists say it’s unlikely that, given recent indicators, home prices will reverse course steeply and fall 9.6 percent or even more in the coming months. Home prices haven’t dropped by that type of percentage since the economy was in a recession.

Source: “Here’s More Evidence That Home Prices Have Hit Bottom,” The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 4, 2012)

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2012/09/10/another-sign-home-prices-have-hit-bottom?om_rid=AACSxz&om_mid=_BQTiy-B8t6GxSG&om_ntype=RMODaily