Indianapolis Real Estate News And Information From HomeToIndy.com

Home values fell again in January, according to the Federal Home Finance Agency's Home Price Index. Values were reported down 0.6 percent, on average.

We say 'on average' because the Home Price Index is a national report.

It doesn't capture the essence of a local market , or even a city market like Indianapolis.

The most granular that the monthly Home Price Index gets is regional and January's report...

As expected, Existing Home Sales fell in February, slipping 30,000 units versus January's numbers. It's the 4th straight month in which Existing Home Sales were lower, month-over-month.

An 'existing' home is one that is previously owned and lived-in (i.e. not new construction).

Existing Home Sales peaked in November 2009, just as the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit was set to expire. Immediately thereafter, according to the National Association of Realtors®, monthly sales plunged 17 percent in December,...

CNNMoney.com recently published its 2010 forecast and projections for home prices in the country's largest metro markets. Listed as 'Top 25' and also comprehensively by state, CNNMoney.com's home price forecasts puts Santa Rosa, California at the top of 2010's home appreciation list and Hanford, California at its bottom. The 10 cities projected for highest home appreciation in 2010 are:

1. Santa Rosa, CA : +6.0%
2. Cheyenne, WY : +4.7%
3. Kennewick, WA : +4.6%
4. Merced, CA : +4.4%
5. Bremerton, WA : +4.2%
6. Fairbanks, AK :...

February proved to be a good month for home sales in Avon. The number of homes sold was up and the average days on market were down over last month. The average price point of homes sold was also down, though. This is to be expected when there were fewer number of homes sold and the fact there was a $1,000,000 home sold in Avon in January.

There are currently 460 active homes for sale in Avon, which gives us an absorption rate of 11.0% or a 9 month supply of homes.

According to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings topped 300,000 for the 12th straight month last month as 1 in every 418 U.S. homes received a foreclosure filing.

It's a small improvement from January and a just 6 percent increase over February 2009.

On a per-capita basis, foreclosure density varied by state:

• Nevada : 1 foreclosure filing per 102 homes
• Florida : 1 foreclosure filing per 163 homes
• Arizona : 1 foreclosure filing per 163 homes
• California : 1 foreclosure filing per 195 homes

Also, as in January 2010, foreclosures across the country were concentrated. 10 states beat the national Foreclosure Per Capita average; 40 states fell below. Like everything else is real estate, it seems, foreclosures are local.

For today's ...

In November, Congress extended and expanded the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program to include a subset of 'move-up' buyers -- homeowners that have owned and lived in their home for 5 of the last 8 years. The credit ranges up to $8,000 per buyer. There's now just 7 weeks left to take advantage.

To be eligible, home buyers must be under contract for a new home no later than April 30, 2010, and must be closed no later than June 30, 2010. In addition to meeting the deadline dates, there's a basic set of requirements to be tax credit-eligible:

• You can't purchase the home from a parent, spouse, or child
• You can't purchase the home from an entity in which the seller is a majority owner
• You can't acquire the home by gift or inheritance
• Each buyer in the purchase must meet eligibility requirements

There's other criteria,...