Real Estate

Real estate pricing

Real estate pricing deals with the valuation (finance) and there are three main methods: appraisals with comparable properties, capitalization rate comparisons with similar income producing properties, and discounted present value of expected future cash flows.

After realty prices are estimated, recorded or otherwise reported, there remain two major ways in which aggregate home prices are reported: median and mean (average). Prices are also calculated by square foot, using both the mean and median price. Real estate prices have had a profound impact on urban, as well as the suburban and rural landscape. The most important government measurement of home prices in the United States is the house price index. Median house prices are reported for metro areas and regions of the country by the private National Association of Realtors.


Median home price

The median home price is one of the most common measurements used to compare real estate prices in different markets, areas, and periods. It is said to be less biased than the average since it is not as heavily influenced by the top 2% of homes sold. For example, the average home sale price in the US was $264,000 in October 2005, compared with a median home price of $213,900 for the same time period.


Sales price per square foot

Sometimes real estate prices are measured by the price of each square foot. This allows for a better comparison between differently priced homes as well as homes of different sizes. In this pricing measurement method, the median or mean price of a home is divided by its area. For example, a 1,243 sq ft (115.5 m²). home was for sale for $465,000. To find the per square foot price, the price of $465,000 is divided by the area of 1,243 sq ft (115.5 m²). The result, $374.09, is the price per square foot for this particular home.

United States housing bubble

The United States housing bubble is the economic bubble in many parts of the U.S. housing market that began roughly in 2001 following the burst of the Dot-com bubble, and especially occurred in populous areas such as California, Florida, New York, Michigan , the suburbs of Chicago in the Midwest, the BosWash megalopolis, and the Southwest markets. It reached its peak in 2005 and then plateaued, and started deflating in 2006 and accelerated since. Greatly increased foreclosure rates in 2006?2007 by U.S. homeowners unable to pay their mortgages caused a crisis in August 2007 for the subprime, Alt-A, CDO, CDX, mortgage, credit, hedge fund, and foreign bank markets. The U.S. Treasury Secretary called the bursting housing bubble “the most significant risk to our economy.” A housing bubble is an economic bubble that occurs in local or global real estate markets. It is characterized by rapid increases in the valuations of real property until unsustainable levels are reached relative to incomes, price-to-rent ratios, and other economic indicators of affordability. This, in turn, is followed by decreases in home prices that can result in many owners holding negative equity?a mortgage debt higher than the value of the property. The housing bubble in the U.S. was caused by historically-low interest rates, lax lending standards, and a speculative fever. This bubble is related to the stock market or dot-com bubble of the 1990s. This bubble is roughly coincident with real estate bubbles in the United Kingdom, Germany and even South Korea.