According to the latest REALTORS® Confidence Index, current conditions across property types essentially moved sideways in October--a slight decline for the single family market, and a slight increase for townhouses and condos.  Data were from the October REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey:  http://www.realtor.org/reports/realtors-confidence-index.   [1]

REALTORS® continued to report difficulties in obtaining a mortgage under tight underwriting standards and the decreased supply of “affordable” homes.  Respondents also reported that the effective increase in mortgage insurance premium payments  have made a home purchase less affordable and closing costs harder to cover. Financing for condominiums remained difficult to obtain due to FHA financing eligibility regulations for condominiums relating to occupancy guidelines.

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[1]               An index of 50 delineates “moderate”  conditions and indicates a balance of respondents having “weak”(index=0) and “strong” (index=100) expectations  or all respondents having moderate (=50) expectations. The index is calculated as a weighted average using the share of respondents for each index as weights. The index is not adjusted for seasonality effects.

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