BiggerPockets

http://www.google.com/finance?q=GOOGLEINDEX_US:RLEST

It's amazing to me how pronounced and consistent the seasonal trends are. As Peter Lynch would say, "The trend is your friend."

Google mortgage index

http://www.google.com/finance?q=GOOGLEINDEX_US:MTGE

Spiked when rates tanked in 2008 and 2009, and growing modestly more recently.

Didn't know Google has this either. I've been tracking my investment area and noticed that the RE market has faired pretty well this winter. The % change from the summer peak to the winter trough in past years is about 30% while this year has only been about 23% thus far.

I found this forum because of this index. I'm in a market that's full of agents that consider research and analysis something foreign. I call that opportunity. :) Anyway, I've compared this index with our local sales and it corresponds almost exactly, with a few anomalies here and there. One thing it does illustrate, and this is one way I use it, is to show the relative number of buyers and what times of the year they are and aren't active. For instance, the week after July 4th, is, according to this index, the height of interest in the market every single year. You can also look at the history and see that the index consistently follows a pattern based on holidays with Christmas being the low every year.