Updated: 2/3/2012. Thanks to Chris Cox who found a calculation error, which we've now correct. Many held high hopes for an improving real estate market heading into 2011. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration but there were some signs that the housing recession was lessening and perhaps we would all see improvement in 2011. In most locations, that didn't occur. But it did in some! Looking back on 2011 home value changes So here we find ourselves in a similar position; looking back on the year and trying to determine if 2012 would finally be the year were things went "back to normal."

Here are several good clips from CNNMoney.com talking about some of the same topics I posted on yesteday: 1) timing of home values drop, 2) expectation of interest rate levels, and 3) unemployment projections. Good stuff!

Home prices have dropped in Louisville to a lesser degree than the Nation but that's starting to change. This isn't great news but every little bit helps. Analysts who monitor real estate data are saying that home values should stop dropping late next year. Here's a quote from the USA Today article: U.S. homeowners lost $681 billion this year, according to a study by real estate website operator Zillow set for release today. That's less than the $1.1 trillion drop in value in 2010, let alone the $2.7 trillion in losses in 2008, Zillow said. And a Zillow survey of 109 economists says

Sales activity was steadily rising in Louisville through 2005. For the past four years home sales have been stagnant. The health of any real estate market is measured by steady increases in home values along with activity levels that trend upward along with population growth. The same is true for Louisville real estate. Going back 10 years gives us a more historical viewpoint on where we were and where we are now. Looking Back on Louisville Home Sales From 1995 to 1999, home sales in Louisville rose more than 25%! The next three years saw activity remain level, each year having roug

Homes listed on a Friday were 12 percent more likely to sell within 90 days according to study. Study's are done all the time. They can be frivolous, somewhat worthwhile or ground-breaking. On a scale of 1-to-10, I'll give this one a 6.5. If the question is, "When should I list my Louisville home?" The answer would be on a Friday! According to Redfin, a Seattle-based real estate company, after analyzing 1.2 million listings, homes listed on a Friday were 12 percent more likely to sell within 90 days. "Our theory is that since homebuyers tend to tour homes on the weekends (Saturd

Mark Twain popularized this famous quote, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." By their very nature, numbers can be manipulated to show many results, even opposing ones, and still be factually accurate. In the world of real estate, this is true as well. But careful attention usually discerns the treasures within. Organizations collect and manipulate data in a myriad of ways. Then when the time comes to report, let's say home sales in Louisville, do they include all homes? What about condos? They're "homes" too! How about the surrounding counties? Most of

CoreLogic, a data-analysis company serving multiple sectors, published today the following housing information on Louisville real estate. In Louisville-Jefferson County, home prices, including distressed sales, declined by 1.2 percent in August 2011 compared to August 2010 and declined by 2.3 percent* in July 2011 compared to July 2010. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.2 percent in August 2011 compared to August 2010 and declined by 1.5 percent* in July 2011 compared to July 2010. [Editor: After the initial email, CoreLogic sent out another with corrected data

Below you'll find our monthly reports for the following Louisville housing markets. These charts display Louisville home sales and Louisville median home values with a trend-line. You may view this Louisville real estate area map to see the MLS "areas." 9/7/2011 - After seeing some refreshing improvement in July, August lapsed back into the standard pattern for 2011, simply trailing the previous year. The amazing part is that while portions of the city are dropping, others are realizing wonderful improvement. See what I mean by checking out these monthly housing reports for specific MLS a

Yesterday, Freddie Mac issued a press release called August 2011 U. S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook. I've excerpted primary message below. MCLEAN, Va., Aug. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) released today its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for August showing that despite the recent ups and downs in the capital markets the likelihood of an extended period of both relatively low short- and long-term interest rates is helpful news for the housing market's recovery as it continues to struggle. Outlook Highlights Employment was up 117,000, the best show

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "perception is reality". Take the value of brands, for example. People's perception of Tylenol as a safe, pain reducing medicine prior to 1982 was sky high. It was the world's top seller, for crying out loud. Then reports surfaced that a woman died from cyanide poisoning from taking Tylenol. It turns out the medicine was tampered with after the product shipped and was on the shelves but that didn't stop a massive drop in world-wide sales. The perception was that this brand was potentially dangerous and human activity adjusted accordingly. Louisville Hom

Below you'll find our monthly reports for the following Louisville housing markets. These charts display Louisville home sales and Louisville median home values with a trend-line. You may view this Louisville real estate area map to see the MLS "areas." 8/5/2011 - While we still have some ground to make up, after a mildly successful July there's still a chance that 2011 can catch 2010. There are not enough positive factors to indicate a real estate turnaround but we need to appreciate good news when it arrives. See below for specific data for each of our monthly MLS areas. Also visit,

Jefferson County home sales for May 2011 was close to 2009 levels, which was a bad year. Oldham County fared better but clearly the housing market has ground to make up. May has disappointed me greatly. I had far greater plans in mind only to see them dashed on the rocks. According to GLAR data, there were only 664 homes sold in Jefferson County during the month of May. This is down more than 30% from May 2010 where we saw 954 homes sold. This is actually the lowest number of sales going back to the mid '90s. May saw 73 homes Oldham County sell during May which was only a 10% drop

Home prices continue to drop, in some places far more than others. Kentucky fares worse than Tennessee, Indiana but better than Ohio. 6/16/11 - The Wall St. Journal doesn't focus on our local market but the points they make for the country as a whole can be applied to our situation. For some time now, I've been touting the "Big 3" real estate market factors as being enticingly positioned for home buyers. It seems WSJ agrees. Despite all the gloom, however, there are growing indications that it is a good time to buy. Mortgage rates, which fell to 4.55% for the week ending June 2, acc

April's performance fell just shy of the trend line putting more pressure on May to "break the plane." Another month of waiting is behind us. What have we learned? Not much... we're still waiting. April 2011 for both Jefferson County and Oldham County fell below the 7-year trend line for home sales. Jefferson totaled 664 homes sold for the month, which trailed last year's 782. Certainly the record breaking rain had something to do with it so we'll see if those buyers who held off in April might be making their move in May. Oldham came in with 61 properties sold just under the 67 o

The question I'm posed most often in my daily travels is, "When will the Louisville real estate market rebound?" Here at Insider Louisville we like to delve a little deeper and take a look behind "the curtain" and see what we can find. Many were surprised when we brought you salary estimates for local real estate agents. Using these numbers, we can estimate that the average real estate agent in Louisville made $27,364 before taxes and expenses. People I spoke with were astounded. I think most readers were also surprised to learn about unemployment owning the key role in Louisville hom

We all have heard that the housing market is "down." It's taking longer for people to sell their homes and some just won't sell at all. (This is primarily true in the higher price ranges.) While this tremendous news for Louisville home buyers, sellers continue to have a difficult time. Looking deeper into the data we find that one particular segment of real estate industry is struggling far more than the rest and that's new construction. So why do you think that's the case? This piece on SmartMoney primarily cites cost: The reason for the discrepancy is clear, experts say: New homes

Each month we will bring to you an easy to read chart on how both Jefferson County and Oldham County home sales have performed over that past 7 years. I took the time to add the historical trend-line to these charts as I do in our monthly Louisville Housing Reports. And the trend is nothing if not consistent. March home sales in Jefferson and Oldham Counties have, like previous months, trailed 2010 and only barely topped 2009. With results similar to February, March saw only 621 homes sell in Jefferson County. This is 37% down from the high of 2006 and more than 10% down from last yea

Both of these Louisville homes are from the same part of town and are currently for sale in the same price range. Which selection makes the tax assessment news story sound more dire? Leave it to the news folks to make everything sound negative. Ugh. WDRB published a story on Friday with the title, How much is Jefferson County real estate worth? Not too bad. At least the title isn't misleading, or worse, leading in the wrong direction. The reason I'm highlighting this story is because once you arrive at the Web page you're greeted with a large photo of a boarded up home. Then the o

Experts like Donald Trump and John Paulson have been touting the benefits of investing in real estate since October 2010. On this site, we've highlighted the very positive positions of the three key financial indicators for real estate: Interest rates Home prices Inventory Dozens of experts, from a variety of fields, have explained why real estate is a good investment now and why a turnaround is eminent. So why are our Louisville housing reports showing little to no positive movement so far in 2011? The Future's Uncertain and other Jim Morrison Quotes If I had to choose a

Each month we will bring to you an easy to read chart on how both Jefferson County and Oldham County home sales have performed over that past 7 years. That's two months straight with disappointing results in terms of real estate activity. Home sales in Jefferson County just haven't picked up like some experts have predicted. I guess the only solace is that Louisville isn't the only city experiencing these results and is performing on par. Similar to both December and January market reports, February saw Jefferson County home sales drop behind 2010. Whereas in those two months, 2011 did