And you thought Old Man Winter had taken a vacation.  I think it was just a coffee break before he decided to really get to work.  Oh well, on to the numbers.

(Click on any of the charts to enlarge and/or download)

A steady rise in average sales price bodes well for the real estate industry.  This past month, the benchmark inched closer to the $200,000 mark and was up 4% over last year at this time.  Homeowners across the board are finding that the equity in their homes that had been lost during the Great Recession, is making a steady comeback.  In fact, according to Core Logic, just over 1 million borrowers moved out of negative equity during 2016, increasing the percentage of homeowners with positive equity to 93.8% of all mortgaged properties, or approximately 48 million homes.  As the economy strengthens, this will only get better.  Continue reading →