Only seven large homebuilders (1000+ closings) have sold more homes so far in 2010 than they did a year earlier.  Our data feature this week, courtesy of Housing IntelligencePro, shows their rank in terms of percentage gain from a year ago.  While this has been another brutal year for home builders, these seven companies have adapted to difficult conditions and continued to move product.  Subscribers to Housing IntelligencePro have the ability to examine the individual areas and subdivisions that have driven the successful increases in volume.  Is it price?  Is it location?  Amenities?  Being armed with this sort of intelligence has never been more vital.
 

We’re in the city of brotherly love next week on October 28 at our Philadelphia Housing Seminar. Come see us to gain insight on both the national and local new housing market.  Click here for more info.  As a preview, our data feature of the week focuses on how the Philadelphia region’s largest builder by unit volume has capitalized on current housing conditions, courtesy of Housing IntelligencePro.  This builder increased their market share to 16% in 2010 despite difficult conditions, up from 13% a year ago, and handily outpaces the other builder competition in this market area.  Come see us on October 28 to find out who this builder is, and how they’ve been so successful in difficult market conditions.

Come visit us in San Francisco on October 22!  Click here for more information.  With the foreclosure debacle continuing, it’s still unclear how big this snowball is going to become; from what we can tell it is still headed down a pretty steep slope.  If there is any short-term upshot for the new home industry in this grim situation, perhaps prospective home buyers will consider new construction with a clean title to be worth something extra in terms of peace of mind and spur some sales activity.  Long term, however, we still will have to eventually move through these distressed properties before we can get to a period of sustainable recovery, and the current woes only serve to elongate the painful process.
 

Bank of America halting foreclosures in all 50 states is the latest shoe to drop in a growing debacle which calls in to question whether large financial institutions have adequately documented all the vital details surrounding repossessed properties.  The already-fragile housing market certainly didn’t need any more problems, and the full ramifications of this situation are not clear.  What is clear, however, is that many areas still have a substantial backlog of foreclosed properties that will at some point be unloaded onto the marketplace.  Since these distressed properties tend to be priced well under the going market rate for regular resales and new homes, understanding the scope of that pipeline is key in determining how deep of a hole a particular market is in.

 Ignorance is NOT bliss when it comes to housing markets.  On October 6 in San Diego, you have an opportunity to get a leg up on the market at our regional Executive Housing Seminar, and we strongly urge you take advantage of the opportunity.  Our two speakers that day will be presenting concise and powerful information about the housing market that you literally can’t find anywhere else, information that is vital to know for anyone in the home building industry as we struggle through the most challenging conditions in a generation.  Think of it as a survival guide for the next several years.  For those not nearby, over the next few months we’ll also be coming to San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, so hopefully you get a chance to hear this vital info. Click here to Register.

Builders’ piece of the housing market pie is the subject of our data feature of the week, courtesy of Housing IntelligencePro.  New homes used to enjoy a 20% share of all home sales in 2006.  In a post housing-bubble world, that share has been falling, and during the first half of 2010 dropped to 10%.  With July’s inglorious home sales figures, that share slipped into single digits, offset by REO sales.  The distressed properties still being dumped onto the market, at prices well below that of traditional resales or new homes, represent an albatross around the neck of the residential construction industry.