Wednesday, October 24, 2007

U.S. Census Bureau releases statistics on moving

The U.S. Census Bureau has released a series of 34 tables, "Geographical Mobility: 2006," on the 40 million Americans who moved between 2005 and 2006, including characteristics of movers by type of move. Some of this year’s findings include the following:* In 2006, 39.8 million United States residents moved within the previous one-year period. * The moving rate remained statistically unchanged from 2005 at 14 percent. * Nearly half of the reasons given for moving (18.4 million) were housing related, such as wanting a bigger or smaller house. * The West had the highest moving rate (16 percent), followed by the South (15 percent), the Midwest (13 percent) and the Northeast (10 percent). * Hispanics had the highest moving rate (18 percent), followed by blacks (17 percent), Asians (14 percent) and non-Hispanic whites (12 percent). * In 2006, nearly one-third (30 percent) of all people living in renter-occupied housing units lived elsewhere a year earlier. The moving rate for people living in owner-occupied housing units was seven percent. * For the population 16 and older, 24 percent of those who were unemployed in 2006 lived in a different place a year earlier. This compares with 14 percent of those who were employed in 2006 and 10 percent for those not in the labor force. * Most movers stayed within the same county (62 percent), while 20 percent moved from a different county within the same state; 14 percent moved from a different state and three percent moved from abroad.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Triangle home sales drop 24%

According to the Triangle Business Journal today...
Sales of existing homes in the Triangle dropped 24 percent in September as woes in the national housing market continued to chip at the local economy.
Data released by the Triangle Multiple Listing Service show that 2,347 homes were sold in September, down from 3,098 in September 2006.
Local home sales had been trending down for months, most recently dropping 8 percent in August and 11 percent in July. But the area hadn't yet seen such a sharp downturn equivalent to those in other markets, where declining home costs and troubles with subprime mortgage markets have embroiled economies.
Prices weren't the culprit. The average closing price on a home rose 6 percent year-over-year to $242,885.
But as foreclosures grow locally and the national economy slows, local home inventory rises. It continued to rise in September, when there were 17,929 active listings - up 22 percent from the year prior.
And unlike in recent months, when wealthier ZIP codes dominated home sales, the top three ZIPs for sales all came in areas that have seen high foreclosure activity. Fuquay-Varina's 27526 topped the list with 96 home sales, while southeast Raleigh's 27610 was No. 2 with 90 and Wake Forest's 27587 was No. 3 with 88.