Kathy Sullivan
ABR, CRS, CDPE
CLHMS, MBA
Kathy: 978-927-9199
kathy@sullivanteam.com

We Represent
Buyers and Sellers
RE/MAX Advantage Real Estate
All MLS Homes, Multi Family Houses, Condos, Land,
Luxury Homes and Waterfront Properties for Sale
Boston's North Shore, Essex County MA
 Offices: Beverly, Gloucester, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem MA

Luxury Home Specialists • Distressed Property Experts		 Terry Sullivan
ABR, Broker, CRS
CDPE, GRI, MBA
Terry: 978-927-9299
terry@sullivanteam.com

Savvy Advice and
Strategies That Work
RE/MAX Advantage Real Estate, Beverly, Marblehead, Salem, Peabody, Gloucester, MA

MA March Unemployment Rate Drops to 6.5%: US April Unemployment Drops to 8.1% As Hiring Stalls

May 7, 2012 Kathleen Sullivan No Comments

Massachusetts Employment:
Massachusetts is far outperforming the rest of the country in terms of employment.
MA unemployment rate for March, 2012 (latest data reported) dropped to 6.5% while US employment stalls.  

Below are links to the MA Unemployment Rate for each county and each town in the Commonwealth.
The County Unemployment charts for Massachusetts are not seasonally adjusted which explains the slight difference between the state and county unemployment charts.

US Employment:  
The US unemployment rate for April fell to 8.1% from 8.2% in March as the US added 115,000 net new jobs.  
The unployment rate fell because more workers have stopped looking for work.  
Economist project we need to add 300,000+ new jobs per month to absorb the population growth and the 23 million unemployed or underemployed workers.

The Labor Force Participation Rate (% of the population between age 16 - 65 that is working) fell to 63.6%, its lowest level since 1981. (http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000).

U6, the number of US workers that are unemployed or underemployed is now 14.5% (down from 15.5% in April 2011) and represents 23 million workers.



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Short Sales in MA are 8.4% of all residential Sales

May 1, 2012 Kathleen Sullivan No Comments

Short sales in MA are now 8.4% of all residential sales. 
MA Foreclosures for 2011 were 10% of all residential sales. 

Housing Slide Ends But Faces a Long Bottom. Locally, Our Spring Market is HOT!

April 30, 2012 Kathleen Sullivan No Comments

Housing slide is ending nationally,  and locally our spring market is HOT.  We are seeing many multiple-bid situations for well priced homes.  Buyers are beginning to understand that we are at a generational low in both prices and interest rates and they are snapping up the best housing opportunities.   

 

Housing Ends Slide but Faces a Long Bottom

Nearly six years after home prices started falling, more U.S. housing markets appear to be nearing a new phase: a prolonged bottom.

Hitting a bottom, of course, isn't the same as a full-fledged recovery, which is still years off for many housing markets—as well as for millions of people who purchased homes or took cash out during the bubble.

The good news is that housing construction and home sales appear to have hit a floor. Home builders cut back heavily in the past four years and began construction on just 434,000 single-family homes last year, the lowest level on record. Research firm Zelman & Associates estimates builders will start construction on 540,000 homes this year, a 24% increase.

New-home sales during the first quarter posted double-digit gains from the previous-year period. A rebound here is likely simply because "we've starved the market for new-home construction," said Ivy Zelman, the firm's chief executive.


 
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Stunned Home Buyers Find the Bidding Wars Are Back

April 27, 2012 Kathleen Sullivan No Comments

 Stunned Home Buyers Find the Bidding Wars Are Back

http://on.wsj.com/Iyu0qI

 A new development is catching home buyers off guard as the spring sales season gets under way: Bidding wars are back.

From California to Florida, many buyers are increasingly competing for the same house. Unlike the bidding wars that typified the go-go years and largely reflected surging sales, today's are a result of supply shortages.

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Apartment Vacancy Rate 4.9%, Lowest Since 2001 & Rents Are Rising

April 23, 2012 Kathleen Sullivan No Comments

National Apartment vacancy rate fall below 5% to 4.9%, the lowest level since 2001 while rents rise!

    

The strong performance of the apartment sector has yet to show signs of letting up;national vacancies fell by 30 basis points in the first quarter to 4.9%, a level last observed more than ten years ago, back in 2001. This is only the third time in Reis's 31+ years of history that national vacancies have fallen below 5%. 

National asking and effective rent growth remained healthy, with effective rents increasing at its fastest pace since end-2007.Asking rents grew by 0.5% and effective rents increased by 0.9% in the first quarter. Reis expects effective rent growth to accelerate even more as vacancies tighten within the 4% band; with availability so scarce, landlords have little incentive to offer concessions, and the gap between asking and effective rent levels is narrowing very quickly.

http://bit.ly/IisGMe

March Residential Sales UP In MA, and UP our Local Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk County Markets

April 21, 2012 Kathleen Sullivan No Comments

March Residential Sales (single families and condos) were up from both a year ago and from February in:
MA, and our local markets of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk Counties.

March 2011 vs March 2012
MA Up 15%, Essex County Up 22%, Middlesex County Up 10%, Norfolk County Up 14% 

Feb 2012 vs March 2012
MA Up 33%, Essex County Up 13%, Middlesex County Up 33%, Norfolk County Up 29%

 

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