ShareYou want your REALTOR® association to be the best resource for real estate information. Yet for single-staff associations, it can be a challenge to keep track of where to find the information members ask for, let alone distribute all the information they may benefit from.
Below is a handy guide to NAR's most popular reports and other sources of great data for members about real estate, home buyers and sellers, and fellow members.
Tip: Extract data from these sources for daily or weekly social media posts. If your members or local media have other real estate questions not covered here, check our the NAR Field Guides, one-stop resource packages on dozens of subjects of interest organized by topic, or contact (e-mail, phone, live chat, Skype) NAR's information services.
Just the Facts: Members, Consumers, and the Market
NAR's Member Support department offers a great overview of the top real estate facts from some of NAR's most requested reports and other sources, plus links to those reports here: nar.realtor/field-guides/field-guide-to-quick-real-estate-statistics. This page features at-a-glance data from the latest reports on home buyers and sellers, members, FSBOs, home ownership, and more.
Insight Into the Current Market
When members or the media are looking for more insight than numbers can offer, check out the Economists' Outlook blog. Here you'll find analysis from NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun and other NAR research experts on how various economic indicators affect the real estate market, including what the data (housing starts, mortgage applications, consumer prices, and more) really mean to REALTORS® and consumers.
State and Local Market Data
For most associations, your MLS is the key source for local housing market indicators and your state association economist offers insights into this data. To compare your state with other states and areas, NAR maintains a list of links to state REALTOR® association data, which often includes a breakdown by county and metro area. NAR also provides a state-by-state report on international transactions.
Associations in metro areas can tap into a range of research from NAR including the Local Market Reports, which summarize the fundamentals and direction of the nation's largest metro housing markets; the change of home ownership rate for the 100 top metro areas; and the quarterly metro area prices and affordability (the top 180 areas).
NAR's State-by-State Economic Impact of Real Estate Activity reports provide numbers relating to the contribution of the real estate industry to a state's economy and GDP.
On REALTORS® and Firms
Associations report that REALTORS® love information about REALTORS®, from average transactions per year to time spent on social networks. NAR offers a range of data on REALTORS® in these three key annual reports accompanied by video overviews and infographics: NAR Member Profile, Profile of Real Estate Firms, and Commercial Member Profile. The "REALTORS® Confidence Index" asks practitioners about their expectations for home sales, prices, and market conditions, and yields insightful nuggets of information, such as the biggest reason for delayed closings being obtaining financing, and the biggest reason behind terminated contracts being from home inspections and environmental issues. Also check out the "REALTOR® Technology Survey."
About Home Owners and Sellers
The more members know about trends among home buyers and sellers, the better they can target their business efforts. NAR provides the annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers and the "Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends" study. Other consumer-focused studies, such as the "Community and Transportation Preferences Survey," the Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, the Profile of Buyers' Home Feature Preferences, and the "Digital House Hunt", are published sporadically.