Below are the latest results from the D6 Residential Real Estate Survey.  The survey was conducted March 7-16 reflecting activity in February 2011 and include responses from 90 Residential Brokers and 47 Home Builders.  

I would also like to recommend the following blog posts from the Atlanta FED:
3/22/11SouthPoint: Examining the presence of negative equity in the Southeast
3/22/11macroblog: The unemployment puzzle—or at least one of them

Also, later this week SouthPoint will feature a summary of the real estate survey results.

You may also find today's post from the NY FED's new blog of interest as well:
Liberty Street Economics: How Much Will the Rise in Commodity Prices Reduce Discretionary Income?

Note: The black line represents National indicators with data through January 2011 while, the survey data is through February 2011.

According to D6 brokers, home sales growth was similar to the year earlier level in February; the majority continued to report that sales were flat to slightly up on a year-over-year basis.

Reports from Florida brokers were unchanged in February; more than half continued to report year-over-year gains while half of brokers outside of Florida reported declines.      

D6 builders indicated construction activity remained weak in February but declines moderated while nationally single-family home starts weakened further.  

D6 contacts continued to report significant downward pressure from short-sales, REOs and pending foreclosures. Two-thirds of brokers reported annual home price declines in February compared with 63 percent in January.  

CoreLogic reported that January home prices including distressed home sales continue to weaken while the index excluding distressed homes improved.  

Despite the absence of a housing stimulus that was in play last year, the overall outlook among D6 brokers and builders improved in February.
 

Whitney M. Mancuso
Senior Economic Analyst
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
blackberry: 404-556-8757
office: 404-498-8917
fax: 404-498-8058
whitney.mancuso@atl.frb.org

Below are the latest results from the D6 Residential Real Estate Survey.  The survey was conducted February 7-16 reflecting activity in January 2011 and includes responses from 105 Residential Brokers and 49 Home Builders.  

Note: The black line represents National indicators with data through November 2010 while, the survey data is through December 2010.

According to D6 brokers, home sales growth exceeded the year earlier level in January in line with national sales; the majority reported that sales were flat to slightly up on a year-over-year basis.

Gains among Southeast brokers was largely driven by reports from Florida contacts.  More than half reported year-over-year gains.  

D6 builders indicated construction activity remained below the year earlier level.  

D6 contacts continued to report significant downward pressure from short-sales, REOs and pending foreclosures. Sixty-three percent of brokers reported annual home price declines in January compared with 68 percent in December.