Source: Housingwire
Consumer confidence rose 9.3 points in February as the outlook for the nation's economy improved.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to 70.8 in February, up from 61.5 in January. A year ago, the index stood at 72. The present situation index increased to 45 from 38.8, and the expectations index rose to 88 from 76.7 in January.
"Consumers are considerably less pessimistic about current business and labor market conditions than they were in January," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. And, despite further increases in gas prices, they are more optimistic about the short-term outlook for the economy, job prospects and their financial situation.”
The assessment of current conditions was more favorable, and those claiming business conditions are good increased slightly to 13.3% from 13.2%, while those claiming business conditions are bad decreased to 31.2% from 38.3%.
Consumers’ appraisal of the labor market was also less pessimistic. Those stating jobs are plentiful increased to 6.6% from 6.2%, while those saying jobs are hard to get decreased to 38.7% from 43.3%.
Americans also were more optimistic about the short-term outlook than they were in January. The proportion of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased to 18.7% from 16.7%, while those anticipating business conditions will worsen decreased to 11.8% from 14.6%.
Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased to 18.7% from 16.4%, while those anticipating fewer jobs declined to 16.9% from 19.1%. Consumers also expect their wages to rise with 15.4% expecting an increase, up from 13.8% in the January survey.
Last week, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index rose to 75.3. Final February numbers in that survey registered at the highest level since 77.5 a year ago, the best reading since the financial crisis.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/consumer-confidence-posts-sizable-increase-february
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
January mortgage rates up slightly from December
By Jessica Huseman
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said national mortgage rates for January rose to 4.25% from 4.15% the previous month.
The average rate is calculated from the regulator's sSurvey of purchase mortgages. The results reflect loans closed during the last week of January. Because interest rates are determined 30 to 45 days before the loan is closed, reported rates depict market conditions in December.
The contract rate of the composite of both fixed and adjustable rate mortgage loans was 4.19% in January, up from 4.13% in December. The effective interest rate was 4.31%, up from 4.24%.
Initial fees and charges amounted to 0.82% of the loan balance last month, down slighly from December. About 38% of purchase loans originated in January were no point mortgages, up 6% from December. The average term was 28.3 years in January, down about half of one year from the previous month.
The average loan-to-price ratio in January was 75.5%, down from 78.7% in December. The average loan amount was $223,000 in January, up $1,300 from December.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/january-mortgage-rates-slightly-december
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said national mortgage rates for January rose to 4.25% from 4.15% the previous month.
The average rate is calculated from the regulator's sSurvey of purchase mortgages. The results reflect loans closed during the last week of January. Because interest rates are determined 30 to 45 days before the loan is closed, reported rates depict market conditions in December.
The contract rate of the composite of both fixed and adjustable rate mortgage loans was 4.19% in January, up from 4.13% in December. The effective interest rate was 4.31%, up from 4.24%.
Initial fees and charges amounted to 0.82% of the loan balance last month, down slighly from December. About 38% of purchase loans originated in January were no point mortgages, up 6% from December. The average term was 28.3 years in January, down about half of one year from the previous month.
The average loan-to-price ratio in January was 75.5%, down from 78.7% in December. The average loan amount was $223,000 in January, up $1,300 from December.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/january-mortgage-rates-slightly-december
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
What Women (Home Buyers) Want
By:Teresa Burney
A Maine builder has cracked the code to what design elements and thoughtful details hit home with many female buyers.
During the housing recession, when many of Mark Patterson’s competitors in southern Maine and New Hampshire stopped selling houses, Patterson’s Patco Construction kept chugging along in large part because he builds and sells houses women want.
Patco isn’t a big builder. It sold 45 to 50 houses at its peak in 2004 and things have tapered off since 2008 to 20 to 30 homes per year now. “But a lot of my competition has built nothing,” Patterson said. “I’m building homes and we don’t do spec. Everything I build is pre-sold.”
“It was not all about women-centric,” he added. “We also had the right product, price-point, and location, but you have also got this superior design and process” that appeals to women.
Ironically, it was a couple of men, Greg Dodge and Paul Foresman of Design Basics, who told Patterson that he needed to work harder to appeal to women buyers if he wanted to sell more houses. Patterson was skeptical, not because he didn’t know and believe the statistics that women make most of the home buying decisions, or even that women think differently than men. It was just that he didn’t think anybody had cracked the code to women buyers’ wants.
So he asked Dodge and Foresman to give him the name of a successful women-centric builder. They pointed him to Hugh A. Fisher of Deer Brook Development Corp., a Rhode Island builder who had quadrupled his business in the middle of the housing recession. After one conversation Patterson was sold that there was something to check out. He signed up for women-centric design training and purchased a package of women-focused marketing materials through Design Basics, which had helped Fisher boost his sales. Then Patterson came back to Maine and started putting what he had learned to work. Soon he became a woman-centric sales radical. “That was ’08 and we had people lined up down the driveway,” he remembered.
A lot of what Patterson learned about appealing to women buyers might sound like sexist stereotypes. He says men look at a house as a general impression, with their most specific interest being where to put the big-screen TV, while women see the details of its parts. Men look at a house plan with concerns about how they will relax in the house, he says, while women focus on how the family will live in the house and how they will work in it. Obviously these are generalizations that don’t apply to every man or woman, but Patterson said that they do apply to many and that figuring out how to use those generalizations to market and sell his homes has been a major contributor to Patco's success.
So how do you become a women-centric builder? Patterson said it’s not just a matter of making your website pink and building better laundry rooms, though those could be pieces of the puzzle. Patterson said it has to be more holistic than that, involving a complete re-thinking of marketing, sales, and design.
Here are parts of Patco’s success formula.
•A woman-centric web site. The main page of Patco's website looks somewhat typical, though it does include a lot of photos of happy families and couples, but click on the top button labeled “Woman-Centric” and a pastel peach page pops up that looks like it came out of a women’s magazine. Featured prominently are a section that offers floor plans coded by color to delineate storage, living, and “de-stressing” areas in the plans, the “10 Commandments of Women-Centric Design,” and a women’s magazine-style quiz that determines whether the shopper is a Maggie, Claire, Elise, or Margo and then gives a description of each of the four personality types and suggests floor plans that might appeal to each type.
•Listening. Showing floor plans isn’t the first thing that Patco sales people do when customers come in. Instead, Patterson said he sits down with customers for 20 minutes or so to find out what they say they are looking for in a new home and to learn some details of the family's lifestyle. Since Patco doesn’t build model homes, this happens in a show room. “We are not trying to close,” said Patterson. “We talk about, What are your needs? What would you like? What would you need? What is your budget? Women will tell you what their budget is.”
•Show life-improving features not found in resales. These things don’t have to be big things. In fact, one secret to selling to women is that small things make a difference, says Patterson. For instance, a nicer doorbell that costs only a few dollars more than the standard doorbell yet makes a big-buck impression. Patterson’s show room has a series of home items that can make people’s lives easier.
There’s a stop-and-drop area coming in from the garage that offers a place for keys, phone charging, and mail handling. It includes a recycling center underneath so junk mail can be tossed quickly. Patterson said this addresses a big complaint from women about husbands who drop their wallet and keys and mail on the kitchen counter. The stop-and-drop area also has a designated junk drawer, theoretically eliminating the one in the kitchen.
“The junk drawer drives women crazy,” said Patterson. “It’s always a mess and women are always thinking that they need to organize it to make it work for them. We get it out of the kitchen so they don’t have to see it. It is the bane of her existence.”
But it’s not the only bane. Laundry is another big stressor for women. Patco puts laundry rooms near bedrooms with a door that can be closed to get the mess out of sight.
“Many times house plans include the laundry by the rear foyer,” said Patterson. “There is no woman who wants to come home at the end of the day and step over her dirty laundry.”
Another pain point for women is the corner in the kitchen cabinets, especially if it has a lazy Susan that constantly swallows and hides items. (Patterson said he once found 72 packets of lost seasoning mixes in his home corner cabinet.) Patco builds kitchens with open-wire shelving in the corner cabinets to offer a full view of all the contents without digging.
Other storage solutions are also demonstrated in the showroom including a cabinet built between the studs by the toilet that holds reading material in a rack and has a cabinet behind the toilet paper holder to store extra rolls and other items.
Patco also offers a storage solution for personal appliances by turning the fake drawer front on the bathroom cabinet into tilt-front hidden storage for curling irons and other hair appliances and their cords.
“It seems like a little thing. It is a little thing,” said Patterson. But such attention to detail makes a big impact, he says, “when somebody sees it and they think, ‘Wow, these folks have actually thought about stuff like that.’ That is the whole secret of woman-centric design, that we have thought about things like that.”
Patterson is busily working to add another item to his marketing program that he's pretty sure few, if any, other builders have considered.
“I’ve been trying to work with hospitals to develop a menopause summit to give women information,” said Patterson. “You are not going to sell a house because you sponsor a menopause summit. What you are doing is building brand awareness and brand loyalty. You are sending the message that ‘They are cool and they do cool stuff.’”
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/marketing/what-women-home-buyers-want.aspx?cid=BP:022812:FULL
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
A Maine builder has cracked the code to what design elements and thoughtful details hit home with many female buyers.
During the housing recession, when many of Mark Patterson’s competitors in southern Maine and New Hampshire stopped selling houses, Patterson’s Patco Construction kept chugging along in large part because he builds and sells houses women want.
Patco isn’t a big builder. It sold 45 to 50 houses at its peak in 2004 and things have tapered off since 2008 to 20 to 30 homes per year now. “But a lot of my competition has built nothing,” Patterson said. “I’m building homes and we don’t do spec. Everything I build is pre-sold.”
“It was not all about women-centric,” he added. “We also had the right product, price-point, and location, but you have also got this superior design and process” that appeals to women.
Ironically, it was a couple of men, Greg Dodge and Paul Foresman of Design Basics, who told Patterson that he needed to work harder to appeal to women buyers if he wanted to sell more houses. Patterson was skeptical, not because he didn’t know and believe the statistics that women make most of the home buying decisions, or even that women think differently than men. It was just that he didn’t think anybody had cracked the code to women buyers’ wants.
So he asked Dodge and Foresman to give him the name of a successful women-centric builder. They pointed him to Hugh A. Fisher of Deer Brook Development Corp., a Rhode Island builder who had quadrupled his business in the middle of the housing recession. After one conversation Patterson was sold that there was something to check out. He signed up for women-centric design training and purchased a package of women-focused marketing materials through Design Basics, which had helped Fisher boost his sales. Then Patterson came back to Maine and started putting what he had learned to work. Soon he became a woman-centric sales radical. “That was ’08 and we had people lined up down the driveway,” he remembered.
A lot of what Patterson learned about appealing to women buyers might sound like sexist stereotypes. He says men look at a house as a general impression, with their most specific interest being where to put the big-screen TV, while women see the details of its parts. Men look at a house plan with concerns about how they will relax in the house, he says, while women focus on how the family will live in the house and how they will work in it. Obviously these are generalizations that don’t apply to every man or woman, but Patterson said that they do apply to many and that figuring out how to use those generalizations to market and sell his homes has been a major contributor to Patco's success.
So how do you become a women-centric builder? Patterson said it’s not just a matter of making your website pink and building better laundry rooms, though those could be pieces of the puzzle. Patterson said it has to be more holistic than that, involving a complete re-thinking of marketing, sales, and design.
Here are parts of Patco’s success formula.
•A woman-centric web site. The main page of Patco's website looks somewhat typical, though it does include a lot of photos of happy families and couples, but click on the top button labeled “Woman-Centric” and a pastel peach page pops up that looks like it came out of a women’s magazine. Featured prominently are a section that offers floor plans coded by color to delineate storage, living, and “de-stressing” areas in the plans, the “10 Commandments of Women-Centric Design,” and a women’s magazine-style quiz that determines whether the shopper is a Maggie, Claire, Elise, or Margo and then gives a description of each of the four personality types and suggests floor plans that might appeal to each type.
•Listening. Showing floor plans isn’t the first thing that Patco sales people do when customers come in. Instead, Patterson said he sits down with customers for 20 minutes or so to find out what they say they are looking for in a new home and to learn some details of the family's lifestyle. Since Patco doesn’t build model homes, this happens in a show room. “We are not trying to close,” said Patterson. “We talk about, What are your needs? What would you like? What would you need? What is your budget? Women will tell you what their budget is.”
•Show life-improving features not found in resales. These things don’t have to be big things. In fact, one secret to selling to women is that small things make a difference, says Patterson. For instance, a nicer doorbell that costs only a few dollars more than the standard doorbell yet makes a big-buck impression. Patterson’s show room has a series of home items that can make people’s lives easier.
There’s a stop-and-drop area coming in from the garage that offers a place for keys, phone charging, and mail handling. It includes a recycling center underneath so junk mail can be tossed quickly. Patterson said this addresses a big complaint from women about husbands who drop their wallet and keys and mail on the kitchen counter. The stop-and-drop area also has a designated junk drawer, theoretically eliminating the one in the kitchen.
“The junk drawer drives women crazy,” said Patterson. “It’s always a mess and women are always thinking that they need to organize it to make it work for them. We get it out of the kitchen so they don’t have to see it. It is the bane of her existence.”
But it’s not the only bane. Laundry is another big stressor for women. Patco puts laundry rooms near bedrooms with a door that can be closed to get the mess out of sight.
“Many times house plans include the laundry by the rear foyer,” said Patterson. “There is no woman who wants to come home at the end of the day and step over her dirty laundry.”
Another pain point for women is the corner in the kitchen cabinets, especially if it has a lazy Susan that constantly swallows and hides items. (Patterson said he once found 72 packets of lost seasoning mixes in his home corner cabinet.) Patco builds kitchens with open-wire shelving in the corner cabinets to offer a full view of all the contents without digging.
Other storage solutions are also demonstrated in the showroom including a cabinet built between the studs by the toilet that holds reading material in a rack and has a cabinet behind the toilet paper holder to store extra rolls and other items.
Patco also offers a storage solution for personal appliances by turning the fake drawer front on the bathroom cabinet into tilt-front hidden storage for curling irons and other hair appliances and their cords.
“It seems like a little thing. It is a little thing,” said Patterson. But such attention to detail makes a big impact, he says, “when somebody sees it and they think, ‘Wow, these folks have actually thought about stuff like that.’ That is the whole secret of woman-centric design, that we have thought about things like that.”
Patterson is busily working to add another item to his marketing program that he's pretty sure few, if any, other builders have considered.
“I’ve been trying to work with hospitals to develop a menopause summit to give women information,” said Patterson. “You are not going to sell a house because you sponsor a menopause summit. What you are doing is building brand awareness and brand loyalty. You are sending the message that ‘They are cool and they do cool stuff.’”
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/marketing/what-women-home-buyers-want.aspx?cid=BP:022812:FULL
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Monday, February 27, 2012
NAR: Pending home sales hit 21-month high
By Andrew Scoggin
Pending home sales rose to their highest level in 21 months in January, according to the National Association of Realtors, as agents signed more contracts for existing homes.
The seasonally adjusted index increased 2% month-over-month to 97 from a downwardly revised 95.1 in December. Signed contracts also jumped 8% over the year-earlier reading of 89.8.
The trade group's index marked its highest point since a 111.3 reading in April 2010, also the last time it topped 100.
Analysts polled by Econoday predicted 1.5% monthly growth, with a consensus range between a 1.1% drop and a 3% increase.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said job growth and rising rental rates "are hopefully pushing the market into what appears to be a sustained housing recovery," despite wavering in the pending home sales. The index dipped in December from 96.9 in November.
"If and when credit availability conditions return to normal, home sales will likely get a 15% boost, speed up the home-price recovery, and thereby significantly reduce the number of homeowners who are underwater," Yun said in a release.
Pending sales grew 7.7% and 7.6% in January month-over-month in the South and Northeast, respectively, while West and Midwest sales fell 4.4% and 3.8%. All four regions, however, saw signed contracts increase from a year earlier, from 10.8% in the Midwest to 0.7% in the West.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/nar-pending-home-sales-hit-21-month-high
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Pending home sales rose to their highest level in 21 months in January, according to the National Association of Realtors, as agents signed more contracts for existing homes.
The seasonally adjusted index increased 2% month-over-month to 97 from a downwardly revised 95.1 in December. Signed contracts also jumped 8% over the year-earlier reading of 89.8.
The trade group's index marked its highest point since a 111.3 reading in April 2010, also the last time it topped 100.
Analysts polled by Econoday predicted 1.5% monthly growth, with a consensus range between a 1.1% drop and a 3% increase.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said job growth and rising rental rates "are hopefully pushing the market into what appears to be a sustained housing recovery," despite wavering in the pending home sales. The index dipped in December from 96.9 in November.
"If and when credit availability conditions return to normal, home sales will likely get a 15% boost, speed up the home-price recovery, and thereby significantly reduce the number of homeowners who are underwater," Yun said in a release.
Pending sales grew 7.7% and 7.6% in January month-over-month in the South and Northeast, respectively, while West and Midwest sales fell 4.4% and 3.8%. All four regions, however, saw signed contracts increase from a year earlier, from 10.8% in the Midwest to 0.7% in the West.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/nar-pending-home-sales-hit-21-month-high
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Friday, February 24, 2012
New Sanger subdivision to include 187 homes
Written by Business Journal staff
Sanger officials will join G.J. Gardner Homes next week when the homebuilder breaks ground on a new subdivision that will comprise 187 new houses when complete.
The Royal Woods subdivision, a collaboration of G.J. Gardner Homes and Evergreen Communities, will feature 4 floor plans ranging in size from 1,548 square feet to 1,950 square feet.
With prices starting in the mid-$100s, the homes will come in Spanish, Early Californian and Craftsman styles.
The first phase of 28 new homes will begin construction Feb. 29 following a groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 21 at the site of the new subdivision, located on the corner of Reagan and Church avenues in Sanger.
The ceremony, taking place at 3004 2nd St., begins at 10:30 a.m. with a presentation by Sanger Mayor Joshua Mitchell while representatives from G.J. Gardner will also be on hand to answer questions about the custom home building process.
Last September, the Sanger City Council voted to temporarily eliminate development impact fees for new homes, equating to savings of $23,500 per lot and making the area more appealing to homebuilders eager to develop.
A sales office located within the subdivision will open to the public on Feb. 29 to answer any questions and explain custom home options to potential buyers.
G.J. Gardner Homes has built over 20,000 homes worldwide and has 19 communities alone throughout Central California.
URL to original article: http://thebusinessjournal.com/news/development/955-new-sanger-subdivision-to-include-187-homes
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Sanger officials will join G.J. Gardner Homes next week when the homebuilder breaks ground on a new subdivision that will comprise 187 new houses when complete.
The Royal Woods subdivision, a collaboration of G.J. Gardner Homes and Evergreen Communities, will feature 4 floor plans ranging in size from 1,548 square feet to 1,950 square feet.
With prices starting in the mid-$100s, the homes will come in Spanish, Early Californian and Craftsman styles.
The first phase of 28 new homes will begin construction Feb. 29 following a groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 21 at the site of the new subdivision, located on the corner of Reagan and Church avenues in Sanger.
The ceremony, taking place at 3004 2nd St., begins at 10:30 a.m. with a presentation by Sanger Mayor Joshua Mitchell while representatives from G.J. Gardner will also be on hand to answer questions about the custom home building process.
Last September, the Sanger City Council voted to temporarily eliminate development impact fees for new homes, equating to savings of $23,500 per lot and making the area more appealing to homebuilders eager to develop.
A sales office located within the subdivision will open to the public on Feb. 29 to answer any questions and explain custom home options to potential buyers.
G.J. Gardner Homes has built over 20,000 homes worldwide and has 19 communities alone throughout Central California.
URL to original article: http://thebusinessjournal.com/news/development/955-new-sanger-subdivision-to-include-187-homes
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Thursday, February 23, 2012
State’s Housing Affordability Climbs to New Heights in Fourth Quarter, CBIA Announces
Source: CBIA
SACRAMENTO – Housing affordability continued to increase in all but three of the state’s metropolitan areas included in the report and reached the highest statewide level since the California index was developed in 2007, the California Building Industry Association announced today.
On a statewide basis, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HOI) found that a family earning the median income could have afforded 66.2 percent of the new and existing homes that were sold during the fourth quarter, up from 63.5 percent in the third quarter. It was the highest statewide affordability level recorded since the California-specific HOI began in 2007 with the previous high being set in the first quarter of 2011 with a level of 64.6 percent. In contrast, the lowest statewide level was recorded with the inaugural state index in the first quarter of 2007 with an affordability reading of 11.2 percent.
Mike Winn, CBIA’s President and CEO, noted that the sharp rise in affordability was good news for those who qualify and can take advantage of low prices coupled with record-low interest rates.
“The glut of foreclosures that has flooded the market in recent years has really brought prices down for both new and existing homes and is the primary reason for these historically high affordability levels,” said Winn. “Clearing out unsold inventory and getting job-generating home construction back to healthy levels would give a much-needed jumpstart to our overall economy. While lending standards remain incredibly strict, now would be an opportune time for those who qualify to take advantage of low prices and record-low interest rates as we may finally be turning the corner on this housing downturn.”
The San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin County metro area was once again California’s least affordable metro area for the 13th consecutive quarter, and third in the nation, with just 37.1 percent of the homes sold being affordable to a family earning the median income, up from 32.9 percent in the third quarter. Orange County was California’s second-least affordable market, and fourth in the nation (47.4 percent), followed by Los Angeles County (48.3 percent) as the state’s third-least affordable market. The New York City metro area continued to hold the title of the nation’s least-affordable market for the 15th consecutive quarter with 29 percent affordability, followed by Honolulu, Hawaii, in second with 34.3 percent affordability.
Of the state’s 28 metropolitan areas included in the report, the three that showed decreases in affordability were Tulare County, Imperial County and Butte County.
Sutter and Yuba counties were again California’s most affordable metro area with 92.5 percent affordability, up from 89.3 percent in the third quarter. Stanislaus County was the state’s second-most affordable market with 91.5 percent affordability, followed by Merced County with 91.2 percent affordability.
Nationwide, 75.9 percent of new and existing homes sold in the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the national median income, up from 72.9 percent in the third quarter and the highest level recorded in the 20-year history of the index. Kokomo, Ind., was the nation’s most affordable housing market with an affordability ranking of 99.2 percent, followed by Fairbanks, Alaska, with a ranking of 97.5 percent.
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How the HOI is calculated
For income, NAHB uses the annual median family income estimates for metropolitan areas published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. NAHB assumes that a family can afford to spend 28 percent of its gross income on housing; this is a conventional assumption in the lending industry. That share of median income is then divided by twelve to arrive at a monthly figure.
On the cost side, NAHB receives every month a CD of sales transaction records from First American Real Estate Solutions (formerly, TRW). The data include information on state, county, date of sale, and sales price of homes sold. The monthly principal and interest that an owner would pay is based on the assumption of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, with a loan for 90 percent of the sales price (i.e., 10 percent down-payment). The interest rate is a weighted average of fixed and adjustable rates during that quarter, as reported by the Federal Housing Finance Board. In addition to principal and interest, cost also includes estimated property taxes and property insurance for that home. This is based on metropolitan estimates of tax and insurance rates from the 2000 Decennial Census, as estimated by NAHB from the Census Bureau's Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). Mortgage insurance is not currently a component of the HOI.
More information about the HOI, including historical tables for communities nationwide, can be obtained at http://www.nahb.org/page.aspx/category/sectionID=135. Questions about the methodology should be directed to Gopal Ahluwalia (202-266-8480) or Rose Quint (202-266-8527) in NAHB’s Research Department.
The California Building Industry Association is a statewide trade association representing thousands of homebuilders, remodelers, subcontractors, architects, engineers, designers, and other industry professionals. More information is available on the Association's Web site, www.cbia.org.
To subscribe to CBIA press releases and receive them as they are distributed, please visit the newsroom section of our Web site and click on the RSS subscription button.
URL to original article: http://www.cbia.org/go/newsroom/press-releases/statee28099s-housing-affordability-climbs-to-new-heights-in-fourth-quarter-cbia-announces/
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
SACRAMENTO – Housing affordability continued to increase in all but three of the state’s metropolitan areas included in the report and reached the highest statewide level since the California index was developed in 2007, the California Building Industry Association announced today.
On a statewide basis, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HOI) found that a family earning the median income could have afforded 66.2 percent of the new and existing homes that were sold during the fourth quarter, up from 63.5 percent in the third quarter. It was the highest statewide affordability level recorded since the California-specific HOI began in 2007 with the previous high being set in the first quarter of 2011 with a level of 64.6 percent. In contrast, the lowest statewide level was recorded with the inaugural state index in the first quarter of 2007 with an affordability reading of 11.2 percent.
Mike Winn, CBIA’s President and CEO, noted that the sharp rise in affordability was good news for those who qualify and can take advantage of low prices coupled with record-low interest rates.
“The glut of foreclosures that has flooded the market in recent years has really brought prices down for both new and existing homes and is the primary reason for these historically high affordability levels,” said Winn. “Clearing out unsold inventory and getting job-generating home construction back to healthy levels would give a much-needed jumpstart to our overall economy. While lending standards remain incredibly strict, now would be an opportune time for those who qualify to take advantage of low prices and record-low interest rates as we may finally be turning the corner on this housing downturn.”
The San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin County metro area was once again California’s least affordable metro area for the 13th consecutive quarter, and third in the nation, with just 37.1 percent of the homes sold being affordable to a family earning the median income, up from 32.9 percent in the third quarter. Orange County was California’s second-least affordable market, and fourth in the nation (47.4 percent), followed by Los Angeles County (48.3 percent) as the state’s third-least affordable market. The New York City metro area continued to hold the title of the nation’s least-affordable market for the 15th consecutive quarter with 29 percent affordability, followed by Honolulu, Hawaii, in second with 34.3 percent affordability.
Of the state’s 28 metropolitan areas included in the report, the three that showed decreases in affordability were Tulare County, Imperial County and Butte County.
Sutter and Yuba counties were again California’s most affordable metro area with 92.5 percent affordability, up from 89.3 percent in the third quarter. Stanislaus County was the state’s second-most affordable market with 91.5 percent affordability, followed by Merced County with 91.2 percent affordability.
Nationwide, 75.9 percent of new and existing homes sold in the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the national median income, up from 72.9 percent in the third quarter and the highest level recorded in the 20-year history of the index. Kokomo, Ind., was the nation’s most affordable housing market with an affordability ranking of 99.2 percent, followed by Fairbanks, Alaska, with a ranking of 97.5 percent.
###
How the HOI is calculated
For income, NAHB uses the annual median family income estimates for metropolitan areas published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. NAHB assumes that a family can afford to spend 28 percent of its gross income on housing; this is a conventional assumption in the lending industry. That share of median income is then divided by twelve to arrive at a monthly figure.
On the cost side, NAHB receives every month a CD of sales transaction records from First American Real Estate Solutions (formerly, TRW). The data include information on state, county, date of sale, and sales price of homes sold. The monthly principal and interest that an owner would pay is based on the assumption of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, with a loan for 90 percent of the sales price (i.e., 10 percent down-payment). The interest rate is a weighted average of fixed and adjustable rates during that quarter, as reported by the Federal Housing Finance Board. In addition to principal and interest, cost also includes estimated property taxes and property insurance for that home. This is based on metropolitan estimates of tax and insurance rates from the 2000 Decennial Census, as estimated by NAHB from the Census Bureau's Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). Mortgage insurance is not currently a component of the HOI.
More information about the HOI, including historical tables for communities nationwide, can be obtained at http://www.nahb.org/page.aspx/category/sectionID=135. Questions about the methodology should be directed to Gopal Ahluwalia (202-266-8480) or Rose Quint (202-266-8527) in NAHB’s Research Department.
The California Building Industry Association is a statewide trade association representing thousands of homebuilders, remodelers, subcontractors, architects, engineers, designers, and other industry professionals. More information is available on the Association's Web site, www.cbia.org.
To subscribe to CBIA press releases and receive them as they are distributed, please visit the newsroom section of our Web site and click on the RSS subscription button.
URL to original article: http://www.cbia.org/go/newsroom/press-releases/statee28099s-housing-affordability-climbs-to-new-heights-in-fourth-quarter-cbia-announces/
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Jobless claims at lowest level since '08
By Jason Philyaw
The number of Americans filing initial jobless claims last week remained flat with the prior week and at the lowest level in four years, as the jobs market continues to improve.
The Labor Department said the seasonally adjusted figure of initial claims for the week ended Feb. 18 was 351,000 unchanged from the previous week, which was revised upward 3,000.
Analysts surveyed by Econoday expected 355,000 new jobless claims last week with a range of estimates between 330,000 and 363,000. Most economists believe initial claims lower than 400,000 indicate a strengthening employment situation. Claims have been lower than this threshold for most of the past four months.
The four-week moving average, which is considered a less volatile indicator than weekly claims, decreased by 7,000 claims to 359,000 from the prior week's revised slightly 366,000.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the week ended Feb. 11 was unchanged at 2.7%, according to the Labor Department.
The total number of people receiving some sort of federal unemployment benefits for the week ended Feb. 4 fell to 7.5 million from 7.68 million the prior week.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/jobless-claims-lowest-level-08
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
The number of Americans filing initial jobless claims last week remained flat with the prior week and at the lowest level in four years, as the jobs market continues to improve.
The Labor Department said the seasonally adjusted figure of initial claims for the week ended Feb. 18 was 351,000 unchanged from the previous week, which was revised upward 3,000.
Analysts surveyed by Econoday expected 355,000 new jobless claims last week with a range of estimates between 330,000 and 363,000. Most economists believe initial claims lower than 400,000 indicate a strengthening employment situation. Claims have been lower than this threshold for most of the past four months.
The four-week moving average, which is considered a less volatile indicator than weekly claims, decreased by 7,000 claims to 359,000 from the prior week's revised slightly 366,000.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the week ended Feb. 11 was unchanged at 2.7%, according to the Labor Department.
The total number of people receiving some sort of federal unemployment benefits for the week ended Feb. 4 fell to 7.5 million from 7.68 million the prior week.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/jobless-claims-lowest-level-08
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
A look on the bright side of home values
By Jason Philyaw
While many housing markets remain weak, some bright spots are popping up especially in areas where inventory is low in lower-priced segments, according to HomeValueForecast.
The majority of statistical areas across the country demonstrated positive real estate trends in February, despite weak markets in some larger areas, according to HomeValueForecast, a partnership between Pro Teck Valuation Services and Collateral Analytics.
Top markets in February include four in South Florida, a few around the Pennsylvania-Ohio border, and one each in Michigan, Utah and near the Arkansas-Missouri border, Pro Teck said.
"The top ranked metros in the month appear to fall into two categories," the company said. "First are a number in Florida, which had both price bubbles and crashes such that current prices are close to where they were 10 years ago, offering very compelling values. The second category are markets which never became overpriced in the first place, thus did not experience a significant decline in values in recent years."
Some of the worst-performing markets in February include three in Connecticut, two in and around Portland, Ore.; two more in Alabama; Spokane, Wash.; Jacksonville, N.C.; and one in Central Texas.
Pro Teck said these areas "have been going through price corrections to varying degrees ever since" the peaks in 2006 and 2007.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/look-bright-side-home-values
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com/
While many housing markets remain weak, some bright spots are popping up especially in areas where inventory is low in lower-priced segments, according to HomeValueForecast.
The majority of statistical areas across the country demonstrated positive real estate trends in February, despite weak markets in some larger areas, according to HomeValueForecast, a partnership between Pro Teck Valuation Services and Collateral Analytics.
Top markets in February include four in South Florida, a few around the Pennsylvania-Ohio border, and one each in Michigan, Utah and near the Arkansas-Missouri border, Pro Teck said.
"The top ranked metros in the month appear to fall into two categories," the company said. "First are a number in Florida, which had both price bubbles and crashes such that current prices are close to where they were 10 years ago, offering very compelling values. The second category are markets which never became overpriced in the first place, thus did not experience a significant decline in values in recent years."
Some of the worst-performing markets in February include three in Connecticut, two in and around Portland, Ore.; two more in Alabama; Spokane, Wash.; Jacksonville, N.C.; and one in Central Texas.
Pro Teck said these areas "have been going through price corrections to varying degrees ever since" the peaks in 2006 and 2007.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/look-bright-side-home-values
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com/
Existing-home sales jump 4.3% in January, inventory level dips
By Kerri Panchuk
Existing-home sales on all single-family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops rose 4.3% during the month of January, making it the third sales increase in the past four months, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
In January, home sales hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million units, compared to a pace of 4.38 million units in December and 4.54 million units in the year-ago period.
As sales increased, inventory levels declined 0.4% from December with only 2.31 million existing homes on the market last month, representing a 6.1-month supply, down from the December inventory hold rate of 6.4 months.
“The broad inventory condition can be described as moving into a rough balance, not favoring buyers or sellers,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR. “Foreclosure sales are moving swiftly with ready homebuyers and investors competing in nearly all markets. A government proposal to turn bank-owned properties into rentals on a large scale does not appear to be needed at this time."
NAR said buying power — driven by lower prices and cheap interest rates — are pulling more buyers into the market, creating a dose of optimism before the spring homebuying season.
NAR remains cautiously optimistic as the real estate industry heads into the warm-weather selling season.
Meanwhile, sales prices are down 2% from January 2011, with the median existing home-price hitting $154,700 last month. Distressed homes made up of short sales and foreclosures accounted for 35% of January sales, up from 32% in December.
NAR also highlighted the role of investors, with investment-related buyers purchasing 23% of homes sold in January. That's up from 21% in December.
First-time homebuyer activity also rose to 33% of all activity, compared to 29% a year ago and 31% in December, NAR said.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/existing-home-sales-jump-43-january-inventory-level-dips
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Existing-home sales on all single-family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops rose 4.3% during the month of January, making it the third sales increase in the past four months, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
In January, home sales hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million units, compared to a pace of 4.38 million units in December and 4.54 million units in the year-ago period.
As sales increased, inventory levels declined 0.4% from December with only 2.31 million existing homes on the market last month, representing a 6.1-month supply, down from the December inventory hold rate of 6.4 months.
“The broad inventory condition can be described as moving into a rough balance, not favoring buyers or sellers,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR. “Foreclosure sales are moving swiftly with ready homebuyers and investors competing in nearly all markets. A government proposal to turn bank-owned properties into rentals on a large scale does not appear to be needed at this time."
NAR said buying power — driven by lower prices and cheap interest rates — are pulling more buyers into the market, creating a dose of optimism before the spring homebuying season.
NAR remains cautiously optimistic as the real estate industry heads into the warm-weather selling season.
Meanwhile, sales prices are down 2% from January 2011, with the median existing home-price hitting $154,700 last month. Distressed homes made up of short sales and foreclosures accounted for 35% of January sales, up from 32% in December.
NAR also highlighted the role of investors, with investment-related buyers purchasing 23% of homes sold in January. That's up from 21% in December.
First-time homebuyer activity also rose to 33% of all activity, compared to 29% a year ago and 31% in December, NAR said.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/existing-home-sales-jump-43-january-inventory-level-dips
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Delinquency rate falls in January but foreclosure starts rise: LPS
By Justin T. Hilley
The delinquency rate on U.S. mortgages monitored by Lender Processing Services ($22.72 0%) fell in January but foreclosure starts rose.
The delinquency rate fell to 7.97% in January 2012, representing a 10.5% annual decline. The rate dropped 2.2% from December, according to LPS' its first look at January mortgage performance statistics based on its loan-level data of nearly 40 million loans.
The total U.S. foreclosure presale inventory rate hit 4.15%, up 1.1% from December and down slightly from a year earlier. About 2.08 million homes were in pre-sale foreclosure inventory as of January.
Just under 4 million properties have mortgages more than 30 days past due, while 1.77 million have loans that are at least 90 days delinquent but not in foreclosure.
The number of properties with loans that are more than 30 days delinquent or in foreclosure totals more than 6.08 million.
The states with the highest percentage of noncurrent loans include Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and Illinois. States with the lowest amount of noncurrent loans include Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska and Nevada.
LPS will provide a more in-depth review of this data in its monthly Mortgage Monitor report on March 6.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/delinquency-rate-falls-january-foreclosure-starts-rise-lps
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
The delinquency rate on U.S. mortgages monitored by Lender Processing Services ($22.72 0%) fell in January but foreclosure starts rose.
The delinquency rate fell to 7.97% in January 2012, representing a 10.5% annual decline. The rate dropped 2.2% from December, according to LPS' its first look at January mortgage performance statistics based on its loan-level data of nearly 40 million loans.
The total U.S. foreclosure presale inventory rate hit 4.15%, up 1.1% from December and down slightly from a year earlier. About 2.08 million homes were in pre-sale foreclosure inventory as of January.
Just under 4 million properties have mortgages more than 30 days past due, while 1.77 million have loans that are at least 90 days delinquent but not in foreclosure.
The number of properties with loans that are more than 30 days delinquent or in foreclosure totals more than 6.08 million.
The states with the highest percentage of noncurrent loans include Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and Illinois. States with the lowest amount of noncurrent loans include Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska and Nevada.
LPS will provide a more in-depth review of this data in its monthly Mortgage Monitor report on March 6.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/delinquency-rate-falls-january-foreclosure-starts-rise-lps
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Monday, February 20, 2012
Stoking the rent vs. own debate
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Rich Arzaga owns a luxury home in San Ramon, California, but he's not betting on it as an investment.
The founder and CEO of Cornerstone Wealth Management, who bought the 5,000 sq. ft. property in 2005 for $1.8 million and has spent $500,000 improving it, considers the abode a wonderful place for his family. But ask him to rate his home -- or any home, for that matter -- as a financial investment, and Arzaga balks.
"It's the American Dream to own a home, but whoever said that didn't do the analysis on it," says Arzaga, knowing he's taking a contrarian stance to conventional wisdom.
Examining 250 properties around the U.S., and going through close to 40 client files to project the financial impact of owning real estate versus liquidating it, Arzaga, an adjunct professor in personal finance at the University of California at Berkeley, found that, "100 percent of the time it was better to rent, rather than own."
That's right: 100 percent.
The reason is simple. While a home is the main repository of wealth for many Americans, it comes with numerous hefty expenses. The carrying costs - what's needed to hold and maintain the asset - range from property taxes and home insurance to emergency repairs and renovations. In a rental situation, the landlord covers those costs, leaving the occupant free to invest revenue in other areas.
"I don't have the emotions a lot of people do surrounding real estate," Arzaga says. "I have steely eyes for how investing in real estate works, and I'd better be a prudent investor for my clients."
Owning a dream home, he says, creates a drain on other financial priorities, causing homeowners "not to meet their financial goals. They were going to fail."
Some real estate experts thought there was some truth to Arzaga's argument, albeit with several conditions.
"To state that owning a home is or isn't a good investment is too simplistic," says Jeffrey Rogers, president and COO of Integra Realty Resources. "It depends. In times of relatively higher rents, low home values, and low interest rates, it makes sense to own a home. But in a reverse market, it wouldn't be economically feasible. Over time, those who purchase in down or flat markets with low interest rates come out ahead."
"Our lifetimes are a long time, and when we look over the long term, real estate and other investments tend to have a positive return," says Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia.com,
a real estate search and research website. "But when it comes to real estate, changing your mind is expensive. There are a lot of costs involved in buying, selling and moving. If you move every two years, it's probably a bad investment for you. It also depends on your job market. If you're in a one-company town and the company goes down, there goes your job and there goes your home value."
Greg McBride, a senior analyst at Bankrate.com, agrees with one point of Arzaga's. "Home ownership is not so much a creator of wealth as a store of wealth," he says. "The promise of home ownership is that over the long haul, it can rebate many or perhaps all of your costs, unlike rent, which doesn't rebate a dime."
The trouble, he says, is that many Americans want a home so badly, they neglect other ways to grow wealth and financial security.
"You have the other financial bases covered: emergency savings, retirement savings, paying off debt, saving for the education of your children," McBride says. "There's no sense in buying a home if it's going to deplete your emergency or retirement savings."
McBride crunched the numbers in a pre-bubble era (2004) for a home purchased at $200,000 by a buyer in the 27 percent marginal tax bracket. Factoring in a 30-year mortgage, $1,200 in annual home insurance, closing costs of $5,500 and maintenance costs of $100 a month, along with property taxes, he calculated that it would take a selling price, 10 years later, of $395,404 just to break even. His conclusion gave Arzaga's view credence: "Homeownership may not be the moneymaker you think it is." (See the full chart at link.reuters.com/hej66s)
Then there's the emergency fund, a must for when a home requires unexpected repair work.
"As far as emergency savings is concerned, six months of a cushion is adequate," McBride says. "But only 24 percent of people have that kind of cushion, and about 65 percent own homes."
So while home ownership may sound glamorous, you need a lot of money to make it work, without much guarantee of positive returns in a post-bubble era. Indeed, Arzaga cites himself as an example of how home ownership doesn't pay off. His residence is today worth $1.5 million, about 17 percent less than what he paid.
So why not sell? For Arzaga, it's a lifestyle choice, and one that he doesn't regret, since his big money-making investments are elsewhere.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/stoking-the-rent-vs--own-debate.aspx?cid=BP:021712:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
(Reuters) - Rich Arzaga owns a luxury home in San Ramon, California, but he's not betting on it as an investment.
The founder and CEO of Cornerstone Wealth Management, who bought the 5,000 sq. ft. property in 2005 for $1.8 million and has spent $500,000 improving it, considers the abode a wonderful place for his family. But ask him to rate his home -- or any home, for that matter -- as a financial investment, and Arzaga balks.
"It's the American Dream to own a home, but whoever said that didn't do the analysis on it," says Arzaga, knowing he's taking a contrarian stance to conventional wisdom.
Examining 250 properties around the U.S., and going through close to 40 client files to project the financial impact of owning real estate versus liquidating it, Arzaga, an adjunct professor in personal finance at the University of California at Berkeley, found that, "100 percent of the time it was better to rent, rather than own."
That's right: 100 percent.
The reason is simple. While a home is the main repository of wealth for many Americans, it comes with numerous hefty expenses. The carrying costs - what's needed to hold and maintain the asset - range from property taxes and home insurance to emergency repairs and renovations. In a rental situation, the landlord covers those costs, leaving the occupant free to invest revenue in other areas.
"I don't have the emotions a lot of people do surrounding real estate," Arzaga says. "I have steely eyes for how investing in real estate works, and I'd better be a prudent investor for my clients."
Owning a dream home, he says, creates a drain on other financial priorities, causing homeowners "not to meet their financial goals. They were going to fail."
Some real estate experts thought there was some truth to Arzaga's argument, albeit with several conditions.
"To state that owning a home is or isn't a good investment is too simplistic," says Jeffrey Rogers, president and COO of Integra Realty Resources. "It depends. In times of relatively higher rents, low home values, and low interest rates, it makes sense to own a home. But in a reverse market, it wouldn't be economically feasible. Over time, those who purchase in down or flat markets with low interest rates come out ahead."
"Our lifetimes are a long time, and when we look over the long term, real estate and other investments tend to have a positive return," says Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia.com,
a real estate search and research website. "But when it comes to real estate, changing your mind is expensive. There are a lot of costs involved in buying, selling and moving. If you move every two years, it's probably a bad investment for you. It also depends on your job market. If you're in a one-company town and the company goes down, there goes your job and there goes your home value."
Greg McBride, a senior analyst at Bankrate.com, agrees with one point of Arzaga's. "Home ownership is not so much a creator of wealth as a store of wealth," he says. "The promise of home ownership is that over the long haul, it can rebate many or perhaps all of your costs, unlike rent, which doesn't rebate a dime."
The trouble, he says, is that many Americans want a home so badly, they neglect other ways to grow wealth and financial security.
"You have the other financial bases covered: emergency savings, retirement savings, paying off debt, saving for the education of your children," McBride says. "There's no sense in buying a home if it's going to deplete your emergency or retirement savings."
McBride crunched the numbers in a pre-bubble era (2004) for a home purchased at $200,000 by a buyer in the 27 percent marginal tax bracket. Factoring in a 30-year mortgage, $1,200 in annual home insurance, closing costs of $5,500 and maintenance costs of $100 a month, along with property taxes, he calculated that it would take a selling price, 10 years later, of $395,404 just to break even. His conclusion gave Arzaga's view credence: "Homeownership may not be the moneymaker you think it is." (See the full chart at link.reuters.com/hej66s)
Then there's the emergency fund, a must for when a home requires unexpected repair work.
"As far as emergency savings is concerned, six months of a cushion is adequate," McBride says. "But only 24 percent of people have that kind of cushion, and about 65 percent own homes."
So while home ownership may sound glamorous, you need a lot of money to make it work, without much guarantee of positive returns in a post-bubble era. Indeed, Arzaga cites himself as an example of how home ownership doesn't pay off. His residence is today worth $1.5 million, about 17 percent less than what he paid.
So why not sell? For Arzaga, it's a lifestyle choice, and one that he doesn't regret, since his big money-making investments are elsewhere.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/stoking-the-rent-vs--own-debate.aspx?cid=BP:021712:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Make-up test
Source: BiPartisan Policy Center
By late 2011, private investment in housing was contributing 2.2 percent to GDP, 2.3 percentage points below its historical average
As the nation’s economy tries to gain traction and build momentum, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission has released an infographic detailing the housing industry’s historical impact on economic growth.
The graphic tracks private investment in housing in the wake of previous downturns, showing that a robust housing industry helped drive eventual recoveries. However, since 2008, the industry had made less than half its normal contribution to economic growth. In fact, based on the industry’s average share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 1980 to 2007, the infographic illustrates that 2.3 percent or $350 billion is “missing” in potential growth.
To view the full infographic, click here.
To view the full data set, click here.
Methodology
The construction of new housing is an integral component of the economy. From 1980 to 2007, residential fixed investment, the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ measure of the economic value of new home construction and remodeling, contributed on average 4.5 percent to the U.S. GDP. During the boom years from 2004 to 2006, it constituted an even greater amount, peaking at 6.3 percent of GDP in the last quarter of 2005. However, when the housing bubble began to burst in 2007, new home construction’s share of GDP plummeted. As of the third quarter of 2011, residential fixed investment was only contributing 2.2 percent to GDP, 2.3 percentage points below its historical average. This suggests that the economy is, in effect, missing 2.3 percent of GDP because of the distress in the housing industry.
New home construction is a major generator of American jobs. According to a National Association of Home Builders analysis of government economic data, each new single-family detached home constructed supports 3.05 jobs and each new multifamily unit supports 1.16 jobs. Based on these multipliers and the latest available data on housing starts prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau, the current amount of construction is supporting an estimated 1.5 million jobs. However, the current level of housing construction, at an annual rate of 617,000 units, is well below the country’s long-term needs for housing. The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University has projected that the United States will need to add 16.4 million new housing units from 2010-2020, or 1.64 million units per year, to meet housing needs. If the number of housing starts were high enough to meet the projected demand, the housing industry would generate an estimated 4.4 million jobs, or 2.9 million more than it does currently.
If housing sector performance was at the industry average, economic output and economic growth could double. The housing industry’s share of GDP stands at 2.2 percent, 2.3 percent below its 1980-2007 average of 4.5 percent. If 2.3 percent translates to $350 billion in missing economic output, total GDP stands at roughly $15.217 trillion. Thus, at its current 2.2 percent contribution, the housing industry accounts for approximately $334 billion. At its historical average of 4.5 percent of GDP, the housing industry could be contributing approximately $684 billion in economic output. GDP increased at annual rates of 1.8 percent and 2.8 percent in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2011. The mean of the last two quarters suggests 2.3 percent growth in total GDP in the second half of 2011, or roughly $350 billion. The missing housing contribution could represent a doubling of current economic output.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/make-up-test.aspx?cid=BP:021712:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
By late 2011, private investment in housing was contributing 2.2 percent to GDP, 2.3 percentage points below its historical average
As the nation’s economy tries to gain traction and build momentum, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission has released an infographic detailing the housing industry’s historical impact on economic growth.
The graphic tracks private investment in housing in the wake of previous downturns, showing that a robust housing industry helped drive eventual recoveries. However, since 2008, the industry had made less than half its normal contribution to economic growth. In fact, based on the industry’s average share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 1980 to 2007, the infographic illustrates that 2.3 percent or $350 billion is “missing” in potential growth.
To view the full infographic, click here.
To view the full data set, click here.
Methodology
The construction of new housing is an integral component of the economy. From 1980 to 2007, residential fixed investment, the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ measure of the economic value of new home construction and remodeling, contributed on average 4.5 percent to the U.S. GDP. During the boom years from 2004 to 2006, it constituted an even greater amount, peaking at 6.3 percent of GDP in the last quarter of 2005. However, when the housing bubble began to burst in 2007, new home construction’s share of GDP plummeted. As of the third quarter of 2011, residential fixed investment was only contributing 2.2 percent to GDP, 2.3 percentage points below its historical average. This suggests that the economy is, in effect, missing 2.3 percent of GDP because of the distress in the housing industry.
New home construction is a major generator of American jobs. According to a National Association of Home Builders analysis of government economic data, each new single-family detached home constructed supports 3.05 jobs and each new multifamily unit supports 1.16 jobs. Based on these multipliers and the latest available data on housing starts prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau, the current amount of construction is supporting an estimated 1.5 million jobs. However, the current level of housing construction, at an annual rate of 617,000 units, is well below the country’s long-term needs for housing. The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University has projected that the United States will need to add 16.4 million new housing units from 2010-2020, or 1.64 million units per year, to meet housing needs. If the number of housing starts were high enough to meet the projected demand, the housing industry would generate an estimated 4.4 million jobs, or 2.9 million more than it does currently.
If housing sector performance was at the industry average, economic output and economic growth could double. The housing industry’s share of GDP stands at 2.2 percent, 2.3 percent below its 1980-2007 average of 4.5 percent. If 2.3 percent translates to $350 billion in missing economic output, total GDP stands at roughly $15.217 trillion. Thus, at its current 2.2 percent contribution, the housing industry accounts for approximately $334 billion. At its historical average of 4.5 percent of GDP, the housing industry could be contributing approximately $684 billion in economic output. GDP increased at annual rates of 1.8 percent and 2.8 percent in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2011. The mean of the last two quarters suggests 2.3 percent growth in total GDP in the second half of 2011, or roughly $350 billion. The missing housing contribution could represent a doubling of current economic output.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/make-up-test.aspx?cid=BP:021712:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Chase donates 100 homes to military, wounded warriors
By Kerri Panchuk
Mortgage lender Chase and nonprofit Operation Homefront will partner to place 100 wounded warriors, military members and veterans into Chase-owned homes.
Operation Homefront is a nonprofit that provides aid to active military, wounded warriors and veterans.
The new program — Homes on the Homefront — will provide transitional services for veterans and families chosen to receive the residences.
Chase, the lending unit of JPMorgan Chase ($38.47 0.47%), is offering real estate from its banked-owned inventory to applicants who are either active duty service members, in the National Guard or in the reserves or honorably discharged veterans. Other qualifiers include the soldier's status as someone who does not currently own a home. They also have to be financially capable of sustaining the residence past the initial transition period.
The homes are donated, providing the recipients a clean slate to start from. After the transition period, the owners will assume all other homeownership-related costs.
The program also considers surviving single spouses of soldiers killed-in-action and post-9/11 disabled veterans as potential recipients.
"This is an incredible gift from Chase to our men and women in uniform," said Jim Knotts, president and CEO of Operation Homefront. "Chase's imaginative, nationwide approach to providing quality homes to deserving service members and their families will make a huge difference in how these heroes can make that difficult transition and adjustment into productive civilian lives."
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/chase-donates-100-homes-military-wounded-warriors
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Mortgage lender Chase and nonprofit Operation Homefront will partner to place 100 wounded warriors, military members and veterans into Chase-owned homes.
Operation Homefront is a nonprofit that provides aid to active military, wounded warriors and veterans.
The new program — Homes on the Homefront — will provide transitional services for veterans and families chosen to receive the residences.
Chase, the lending unit of JPMorgan Chase ($38.47 0.47%), is offering real estate from its banked-owned inventory to applicants who are either active duty service members, in the National Guard or in the reserves or honorably discharged veterans. Other qualifiers include the soldier's status as someone who does not currently own a home. They also have to be financially capable of sustaining the residence past the initial transition period.
The homes are donated, providing the recipients a clean slate to start from. After the transition period, the owners will assume all other homeownership-related costs.
The program also considers surviving single spouses of soldiers killed-in-action and post-9/11 disabled veterans as potential recipients.
"This is an incredible gift from Chase to our men and women in uniform," said Jim Knotts, president and CEO of Operation Homefront. "Chase's imaginative, nationwide approach to providing quality homes to deserving service members and their families will make a huge difference in how these heroes can make that difficult transition and adjustment into productive civilian lives."
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/chase-donates-100-homes-military-wounded-warriors
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Thursday, February 16, 2012
More marriages cross racial and ethnic lines
Source: Pew Research
Marriage across racial and ethnic lines continues to be on the rise in the United States. The share of new marriages between spouses of a different race or ethnicity increased to 15.1 % in 2010, and the share of all current marriages that are either interracial or interethnic has reached an all-time high of 8.4%.
In 1980, just 3% of all marriages and less than 7% of all new marriages were across racial or ethnic lines. Both of those shares have more than doubled in the past three decades.
While newlyweds who "married out" between 2008 and 2010 are very similar to those who "married in," judging by characteristics such as education, income and age, there are sharper differences among them based on the race, ethnicity and gender partnerships of the couples.
Just as intermarriage has become more common, public attitudes have become more accepting. More than four-in-ten (43%) Americans say that more people of different races marrying each other has been a change for the better in our society, while only about one-in-ten think it is a change for the worse.
Read the full report for detailed results on these findings:
■The rates of intermarriage among different racial and ethnic groups
■Socio-economic characteristics and education of newlyweds who intermarry
■Gender differences among those who "marry out" of their race or ethnic group
■Differences in "marrying out" among native-born population and immigrants
■Regional differences for intermarriage
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/more-marriages-cross-racial-and-ethnic-lines.aspx?cid=BP:021612:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Marriage across racial and ethnic lines continues to be on the rise in the United States. The share of new marriages between spouses of a different race or ethnicity increased to 15.1 % in 2010, and the share of all current marriages that are either interracial or interethnic has reached an all-time high of 8.4%.
In 1980, just 3% of all marriages and less than 7% of all new marriages were across racial or ethnic lines. Both of those shares have more than doubled in the past three decades.
While newlyweds who "married out" between 2008 and 2010 are very similar to those who "married in," judging by characteristics such as education, income and age, there are sharper differences among them based on the race, ethnicity and gender partnerships of the couples.
Just as intermarriage has become more common, public attitudes have become more accepting. More than four-in-ten (43%) Americans say that more people of different races marrying each other has been a change for the better in our society, while only about one-in-ten think it is a change for the worse.
Read the full report for detailed results on these findings:
■The rates of intermarriage among different racial and ethnic groups
■Socio-economic characteristics and education of newlyweds who intermarry
■Gender differences among those who "marry out" of their race or ethnic group
■Differences in "marrying out" among native-born population and immigrants
■Regional differences for intermarriage
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/more-marriages-cross-racial-and-ethnic-lines.aspx?cid=BP:021612:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
TransUnion: National Mortgage Loan Delinquencies Increase for Second Time Since 2009
Source: TransUnion
TransUnion Mortgage Infographic -- Q4 2011CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - Feb 14, 2012) - The national mortgage delinquency rate (the rate of borrowers 60 or more days past due) increased for only the second time since the end of 2009, edging upward to 6.01% at the end of the fourth quarter in 2011. This information is reported by TransUnion and is part of its ongoing series of quarterly analyses of credit-active U.S. consumers and how they are managing credit related to mortgages, credit cards and auto loans.
Between the third and fourth quarters of 2011, all but 13 states experienced increases in their mortgage delinquency rates. On a more granular level, 64% of metropolitan areas saw increases in their mortgage delinquency rates in Q4 2011. This is the same percentage as found in Q3 2011, but up from Q2 2011 when only 21% of MSAs experienced an increase.
"To see that, quarter over quarter, fewer homeowners were able to make their mortgage payments is not welcome news," said Tim Martin, group vice president of U.S. Housing in TransUnion's financial services business unit. "However, it was not unexpected. First, there tends to be a natural seasonality, evident well before the recession, of higher delinquencies in the fourth quarter; perhaps explained by borrowers balancing holiday spending vs. debt payments. Secondly, on the economic front, house prices continued to deteriorate in the fourth quarter and unemployment remained stubbornly high. This combination leads to more negative equity in homes and reduced real personal income that can affect borrowers' ability and willingness to pay their mortgages.
"The more encouraging news is that, when looking year over year, more homeowners are making their mortgage payments and the delinquency rate dropped over 6% since Q4 2010. While it is certainly good to see the rate dropping, at this pace it will take a very long time for mortgage delinquencies to get back to normal."
Many see the economic environment beginning to brighten, although modestly. Therefore, TransUnion's forecast predicts mortgage borrower delinquency rates to drift downward marginally in 2012, but in the meantime we may still see a quarter or two of slightly elevated nonpayment rates as some consumers are not able to, or decide not to, repay their mortgage debt obligations in light of the uncertain economic outlook.
TransUnion's forecast is based on various economic assumptions, such as gross state product, consumer sentiment, unemployment rates, real personal income, and real estate values. The forecast would change if there are unanticipated shocks to the economy affecting recovery in the housing market or if home prices fall more than expected.
URL to original article: http://newsroom.transunion.com/press-releases/transunion-national-mortgage-loan-delinquencies-i-0851320
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
TransUnion Mortgage Infographic -- Q4 2011CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - Feb 14, 2012) - The national mortgage delinquency rate (the rate of borrowers 60 or more days past due) increased for only the second time since the end of 2009, edging upward to 6.01% at the end of the fourth quarter in 2011. This information is reported by TransUnion and is part of its ongoing series of quarterly analyses of credit-active U.S. consumers and how they are managing credit related to mortgages, credit cards and auto loans.
Between the third and fourth quarters of 2011, all but 13 states experienced increases in their mortgage delinquency rates. On a more granular level, 64% of metropolitan areas saw increases in their mortgage delinquency rates in Q4 2011. This is the same percentage as found in Q3 2011, but up from Q2 2011 when only 21% of MSAs experienced an increase.
"To see that, quarter over quarter, fewer homeowners were able to make their mortgage payments is not welcome news," said Tim Martin, group vice president of U.S. Housing in TransUnion's financial services business unit. "However, it was not unexpected. First, there tends to be a natural seasonality, evident well before the recession, of higher delinquencies in the fourth quarter; perhaps explained by borrowers balancing holiday spending vs. debt payments. Secondly, on the economic front, house prices continued to deteriorate in the fourth quarter and unemployment remained stubbornly high. This combination leads to more negative equity in homes and reduced real personal income that can affect borrowers' ability and willingness to pay their mortgages.
"The more encouraging news is that, when looking year over year, more homeowners are making their mortgage payments and the delinquency rate dropped over 6% since Q4 2010. While it is certainly good to see the rate dropping, at this pace it will take a very long time for mortgage delinquencies to get back to normal."
Many see the economic environment beginning to brighten, although modestly. Therefore, TransUnion's forecast predicts mortgage borrower delinquency rates to drift downward marginally in 2012, but in the meantime we may still see a quarter or two of slightly elevated nonpayment rates as some consumers are not able to, or decide not to, repay their mortgage debt obligations in light of the uncertain economic outlook.
TransUnion's forecast is based on various economic assumptions, such as gross state product, consumer sentiment, unemployment rates, real personal income, and real estate values. The forecast would change if there are unanticipated shocks to the economy affecting recovery in the housing market or if home prices fall more than expected.
URL to original article: http://newsroom.transunion.com/press-releases/transunion-national-mortgage-loan-delinquencies-i-0851320
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Q4 2011 Housing Affordability Index
Source: California Association of Realtors
California housing affordability improves, matching previous record high, C.A.R. reports
LOS ANGELES (Feb. 9) – California’s housing affordability rose to its highest level in fourth-quarter 2011, matching a record high set in 2009, thanks to lower home prices and record-low interest rates, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported today.
The percentage of home buyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California rose to 55 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 52 percent in third-quarter 2011 and from 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to C.A.R.’s Traditional Housing Affordability Index (HAI). The index was the highest since C.A.R. began tracking this statistic in 1988, and equaled a high set in first-quarter 2009.
C.A.R.’s HAI measures the percentage of all households that can afford to purchase a median-priced, single-family home in California. C.A.R. also reports affordability indices for regions and select counties within the state. The Index is considered the most fundamental measure of housing well-being for home buyers in the state.
Home buyers needed to earn a minimum annual income of $57,750 to qualify for the purchase of a $282,350 statewide median-priced, existing single-family home in the fourth quarter of 2011. The monthly payment, including taxes and insurance on a 30-year fixed-rate loan, would be $1,440, assuming a 20 percent down payment and an effective composite interest rate of 4.31 percent. The effective composite interest rate in third-quarter 2011 was 4.63 percent and 4.62 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, housing affordability rose in most counties except San Francisco and San Mateo counties, where it was unchanged, primarily due to home price increases in those counties. At 78 percent, San Bernardino County was the most affordable, while San Francisco County was the least affordable, with only 26 percent of households able to purchase the county’s median-priced home.
Visit http://www.car.org/marketdata/data/haitraditional/ to see C.A.R.’s historical housing affordability data. For first-time buyer housing affordability data, visit http://www.car.org/marketdata/data/ftbhai/.
Leading the way…® in California real estate for more than 100 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States with more than 160,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.
URL to original article: http://www.car.org/newsstand/newsreleases/2012releases/q42011hai/
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
California housing affordability improves, matching previous record high, C.A.R. reports
LOS ANGELES (Feb. 9) – California’s housing affordability rose to its highest level in fourth-quarter 2011, matching a record high set in 2009, thanks to lower home prices and record-low interest rates, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported today.
The percentage of home buyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California rose to 55 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 52 percent in third-quarter 2011 and from 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to C.A.R.’s Traditional Housing Affordability Index (HAI). The index was the highest since C.A.R. began tracking this statistic in 1988, and equaled a high set in first-quarter 2009.
C.A.R.’s HAI measures the percentage of all households that can afford to purchase a median-priced, single-family home in California. C.A.R. also reports affordability indices for regions and select counties within the state. The Index is considered the most fundamental measure of housing well-being for home buyers in the state.
Home buyers needed to earn a minimum annual income of $57,750 to qualify for the purchase of a $282,350 statewide median-priced, existing single-family home in the fourth quarter of 2011. The monthly payment, including taxes and insurance on a 30-year fixed-rate loan, would be $1,440, assuming a 20 percent down payment and an effective composite interest rate of 4.31 percent. The effective composite interest rate in third-quarter 2011 was 4.63 percent and 4.62 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, housing affordability rose in most counties except San Francisco and San Mateo counties, where it was unchanged, primarily due to home price increases in those counties. At 78 percent, San Bernardino County was the most affordable, while San Francisco County was the least affordable, with only 26 percent of households able to purchase the county’s median-priced home.
Visit http://www.car.org/marketdata/data/haitraditional/ to see C.A.R.’s historical housing affordability data. For first-time buyer housing affordability data, visit http://www.car.org/marketdata/data/ftbhai/.
Leading the way…® in California real estate for more than 100 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States with more than 160,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.
URL to original article: http://www.car.org/newsstand/newsreleases/2012releases/q42011hai/
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Southern California home sales inch higher, prices dip lower
By Justin T. Hilley
January home sales in Southern California inched higher while prices fell — a trend occuring in other parts of the U.S. across the nation — as traditional buyers retreated and investors snapped up homes at a record level.
More than 14,523 new and resale houses and condos sold in January in the six counties that comprise Southern California, according to DataQuick. The figure held steady from a year earlier when home sales totaled 14,458, but fell 24.5% from 19,247 in December.
Sales increased year-over-year for the last six months, except for December, which is normal for the season.
The median price paid for a home in the six-county area in January was $260,000, down 3.7% from $270,000 for both a year earlier and December 2011. The median was the lowest since $249,000 in May 2009. The median’s low point for the cycle was $247,000 in April 2009, while the high point was $505,000 in mid-2007.
The trend of rising sales and falling prices was also seen recently in Illinois. There, home sales rose in the fourth quarter over the year-earlier period, while the state's median price dwindled, reflecting the downward pressure distressed sales continue to have on property values.
"The mortgage market remains dysfunctional," DataQuick President John Walsh said. "It will be interesting to see how a potential surge of refinance activity plays into the purchase market once the administration’s new guidelines are implemented."
Distressed sales made up more than half of January’s resale market in Southern California.
Foreclosures accounted for nearly one-third of resales last month, down from almost 37% a year earlier and up from a revised 32.4% in December. Foreclosure resales hit a high of 56.7% in February 2009 and a low of 32.8% last June.
Short sales made up 21.3% of resales in the area last month, a high for the current real estate cycle, compared to 19.6% in both January and December 2011.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/southern-california-home-sales-inch-higher-prices-dip-lower
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
January home sales in Southern California inched higher while prices fell — a trend occuring in other parts of the U.S. across the nation — as traditional buyers retreated and investors snapped up homes at a record level.
More than 14,523 new and resale houses and condos sold in January in the six counties that comprise Southern California, according to DataQuick. The figure held steady from a year earlier when home sales totaled 14,458, but fell 24.5% from 19,247 in December.
Sales increased year-over-year for the last six months, except for December, which is normal for the season.
The median price paid for a home in the six-county area in January was $260,000, down 3.7% from $270,000 for both a year earlier and December 2011. The median was the lowest since $249,000 in May 2009. The median’s low point for the cycle was $247,000 in April 2009, while the high point was $505,000 in mid-2007.
The trend of rising sales and falling prices was also seen recently in Illinois. There, home sales rose in the fourth quarter over the year-earlier period, while the state's median price dwindled, reflecting the downward pressure distressed sales continue to have on property values.
"The mortgage market remains dysfunctional," DataQuick President John Walsh said. "It will be interesting to see how a potential surge of refinance activity plays into the purchase market once the administration’s new guidelines are implemented."
Distressed sales made up more than half of January’s resale market in Southern California.
Foreclosures accounted for nearly one-third of resales last month, down from almost 37% a year earlier and up from a revised 32.4% in December. Foreclosure resales hit a high of 56.7% in February 2009 and a low of 32.8% last June.
Short sales made up 21.3% of resales in the area last month, a high for the current real estate cycle, compared to 19.6% in both January and December 2011.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/southern-california-home-sales-inch-higher-prices-dip-lower
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
RealtyTrac reports foreclosure filings rise 3% in January
By Kerri Panchuk
U.S. foreclosure filings edged up 3% in January as judicial foreclosure states began to see a thaw in delayed foreclosure activity, RealtyTrac said.
The Irvine,Calif.-based firm said foreclosure starts picked up for the first time since the fall 2010 robo-signing crisis in the states of Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Florida.
Nationwide, the firm reported 210,941 foreclosure filings in January, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. While that's up 3% from the previous month, it's still down 19% from January of last year.
By the end of January, one in every 624 housing units was in foreclosure, RealtyTrac said.
Daren Blomquist with RealtyTrac said increased foreclosure activity in key judicial foreclosure states is the likely result of lenders gaining some certainty over foreclosure processing issues, court decisions and regulations impacting the default process. He also points to the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement that financial firms reached with state attorneys general over robo-signing and foreclosure issues.
"It's a bit surprising that we are seeing this increase in January before the settlement was even announced," Blomquist said. "It may be that lenders were ramping up (foreclosure activity) with the expectation of the settlement happening."
Default notices remained unchanged in January from the previous month with 58,362 notices filed on properties, down 22% from January 2011, RealtyTrac said.
Several states saw at least 20% increases year-over-year in default notices, including Maryland (100%), Pennsylvania (112%), Florida (36%), Massachusetts (27%) and Connecticut (23%).
Meanwhile, 86,037 properties were scheduled for auction in January, up 1% from December and down 20% from last year.
Five states saw more than a 20% year-over-year increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions with Indiana and Illinois both up 141%. Others were Minnesota (24%), Massachusetts (57%) and South Carolina (79%).
REO activity also jumped 30% over last year in the states of Wisconsin, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to the report.
Looking ahead, Blomquist said RealtyTrac is expecting a 25% increase in completed foreclosures for 2012. "We had about 800,000 foreclosures in 2011, and we are expecting around a million for this year," he said.
He said the only caveat is the risk associated with lingering lawsuits against lenders, which could turn into a potential roadblock for efficient foreclosures.
The states with the highest foreclosure rates in January included Nevada, which ranked first for the 61st straight month in a row; California and Arizona.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/realtytrac-reports-foreclosure-filings-rise-3-january
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
U.S. foreclosure filings edged up 3% in January as judicial foreclosure states began to see a thaw in delayed foreclosure activity, RealtyTrac said.
The Irvine,Calif.-based firm said foreclosure starts picked up for the first time since the fall 2010 robo-signing crisis in the states of Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Florida.
Nationwide, the firm reported 210,941 foreclosure filings in January, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. While that's up 3% from the previous month, it's still down 19% from January of last year.
By the end of January, one in every 624 housing units was in foreclosure, RealtyTrac said.
Daren Blomquist with RealtyTrac said increased foreclosure activity in key judicial foreclosure states is the likely result of lenders gaining some certainty over foreclosure processing issues, court decisions and regulations impacting the default process. He also points to the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement that financial firms reached with state attorneys general over robo-signing and foreclosure issues.
"It's a bit surprising that we are seeing this increase in January before the settlement was even announced," Blomquist said. "It may be that lenders were ramping up (foreclosure activity) with the expectation of the settlement happening."
Default notices remained unchanged in January from the previous month with 58,362 notices filed on properties, down 22% from January 2011, RealtyTrac said.
Several states saw at least 20% increases year-over-year in default notices, including Maryland (100%), Pennsylvania (112%), Florida (36%), Massachusetts (27%) and Connecticut (23%).
Meanwhile, 86,037 properties were scheduled for auction in January, up 1% from December and down 20% from last year.
Five states saw more than a 20% year-over-year increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions with Indiana and Illinois both up 141%. Others were Minnesota (24%), Massachusetts (57%) and South Carolina (79%).
REO activity also jumped 30% over last year in the states of Wisconsin, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to the report.
Looking ahead, Blomquist said RealtyTrac is expecting a 25% increase in completed foreclosures for 2012. "We had about 800,000 foreclosures in 2011, and we are expecting around a million for this year," he said.
He said the only caveat is the risk associated with lingering lawsuits against lenders, which could turn into a potential roadblock for efficient foreclosures.
The states with the highest foreclosure rates in January included Nevada, which ranked first for the 61st straight month in a row; California and Arizona.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/realtytrac-reports-foreclosure-filings-rise-3-january
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Small businesses slightly more optimistic
Source: Calculated Risk
Rising just one tenth of one percent in January, the Small-Business Optimism Index settled at 93.9, a slight increase from the December 2011 reading, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). While the increase marks five consecutive months of improvement, the readings from January and February 2011 were higher, indicated no net gain for the calendar year. Historically, optimism remains at recession levels. While owners appeared less pessimistic about the outlook for business conditions and real sales growth, that optimism did not materialize in hiring or increased inventories plans.
“The most positive statement that can be made about January’s reading is that the Index did not go down; a change of 0.1 points is essentially no change and it is hardly indicative of a surge in economic activity,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.
Note: Small businesses have a larger percentage of real estate and retail related companies than the overall economy.
Hiring plans declined slightly in January, but the trend is up.
According to NFIB: “Over the next three months, 13 percent plan to increase employment (up 4 points), and 7 percent plan to reduce their workforce (down 1 point), yielding a seasonally adjusted net 5 percent of owners planning to create new jobs, a 1 point decline from December. There is no surge in hiring indicated by these numbers..."
Twenty two percent of small business owners reported that weak sales continued to be their top business problem in January. Currently 18% are reporting taxes as the most important problem, and 20% are reporting regulations - just below the 23% reporting "poor sales".
In good times, small business owners usually report taxes and regulation as their biggest problems. This is another small sign of improvement for small businesses, but lack of demand is still the key problem.
The optimism index declined sharply in August due to the debt ceiling debate and has now rebounded to about the same level as early in 2011. This index is still low - probably due to a combination of sluggish growth, and the high concentration of real estate related companies in the index.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/small-businesses-slightly-more-optimistic.aspx?cid=BP:021512:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Rising just one tenth of one percent in January, the Small-Business Optimism Index settled at 93.9, a slight increase from the December 2011 reading, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). While the increase marks five consecutive months of improvement, the readings from January and February 2011 were higher, indicated no net gain for the calendar year. Historically, optimism remains at recession levels. While owners appeared less pessimistic about the outlook for business conditions and real sales growth, that optimism did not materialize in hiring or increased inventories plans.
“The most positive statement that can be made about January’s reading is that the Index did not go down; a change of 0.1 points is essentially no change and it is hardly indicative of a surge in economic activity,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.
Note: Small businesses have a larger percentage of real estate and retail related companies than the overall economy.
Hiring plans declined slightly in January, but the trend is up.
According to NFIB: “Over the next three months, 13 percent plan to increase employment (up 4 points), and 7 percent plan to reduce their workforce (down 1 point), yielding a seasonally adjusted net 5 percent of owners planning to create new jobs, a 1 point decline from December. There is no surge in hiring indicated by these numbers..."
Twenty two percent of small business owners reported that weak sales continued to be their top business problem in January. Currently 18% are reporting taxes as the most important problem, and 20% are reporting regulations - just below the 23% reporting "poor sales".
In good times, small business owners usually report taxes and regulation as their biggest problems. This is another small sign of improvement for small businesses, but lack of demand is still the key problem.
The optimism index declined sharply in August due to the debt ceiling debate and has now rebounded to about the same level as early in 2011. This index is still low - probably due to a combination of sluggish growth, and the high concentration of real estate related companies in the index.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/small-businesses-slightly-more-optimistic.aspx?cid=BP:021512:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
FHA REO inventory is down ... but stay tuned
Source: Calculated Risk
FHA released the December Report to the FHA commissioner, and according to the report FHA’s SF REO inventory plunged to 32,170 at the end of December – the lowest REO property count since December 2007, and 47% lower than at the end of December 2010. Here is a table derived from the latest and past reports. I don’t rightly know what the “adjustments” category is, save that it is needed to make the report “stock/flow” consistent.
The level of property conveyances is astonishingly low, especially given the rising level of seriously delinquent FHA-insured SF loans (711,082 at the end of December, up from 598,140 at the end of December 2010).
The report also showed a continuation of the recent downward trend in FHA loan modification activity.
It is not clear why both property conveyances AND loss mitigation activity slowed so dramatically in the latter part of last year, but the sharp slowdown in problem loan “resolutions” contributed to the significant rise in the number of seriously delinquent FHA-insured SF loans in the second half of last year.
There has been a sharp decline in REO inventory over the last year and FHA REO is at the lowest level since 2007.
Fannie and Freddie should report Q4 REO next week, and will probably report further declines in REO too.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/fha-reo-inventory-is-down-----but-stay-tuned.aspx?cid=BP:021512:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
FHA released the December Report to the FHA commissioner, and according to the report FHA’s SF REO inventory plunged to 32,170 at the end of December – the lowest REO property count since December 2007, and 47% lower than at the end of December 2010. Here is a table derived from the latest and past reports. I don’t rightly know what the “adjustments” category is, save that it is needed to make the report “stock/flow” consistent.
The level of property conveyances is astonishingly low, especially given the rising level of seriously delinquent FHA-insured SF loans (711,082 at the end of December, up from 598,140 at the end of December 2010).
The report also showed a continuation of the recent downward trend in FHA loan modification activity.
It is not clear why both property conveyances AND loss mitigation activity slowed so dramatically in the latter part of last year, but the sharp slowdown in problem loan “resolutions” contributed to the significant rise in the number of seriously delinquent FHA-insured SF loans in the second half of last year.
There has been a sharp decline in REO inventory over the last year and FHA REO is at the lowest level since 2007.
Fannie and Freddie should report Q4 REO next week, and will probably report further declines in REO too.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/fha-reo-inventory-is-down-----but-stay-tuned.aspx?cid=BP:021512:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Housing inventory declines may prove temporary
By Jon Prior
Crucial housing market metrics are beginning to look better to start the year, but the recent uptick may only be the result of a delayed foreclosure process.
At the end of January, most metro areas saw prices stabilizing, even picking up in some of the hardest hit areas like Miami and Las Vegas, according to Altos Research.
The average home price in Miami was $465,068, up more than 7% from the previous three months. In Vegas, where prices were cut by more than half during the downturn, prices increased 2% over the same period, cresting more than $140,000.
Inventory is also declining in these cities.
"In many markets, tight inventory of quality properties is another contributing factor keeping a floor on home prices this spring," Altos said.
In the 20 metro areas the company covers, inventory declined more than 14% from November to January.
Vegas, especially, was making progress. The city held fewer than 11,000 properties in its inventory at the end of last month, down more than 38% from November levels.
Declining inventories do not necessarily stem from higher home sales these days but may rather be a product of fewer REO hitting the market. Completed foreclosures in Nevada dropped 26% to 6,328 in 2011 from nearly 8,000 the year before, according to RealtyTrac.
From November to December alone, inventory declined in Vegas by 27%, a change Altos called "staggering."
With mortgage servicers putting the AG settlement behind them in January, the process may be rebooted soon, pushing inventories higher by the end of the year.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/housing-inventory-declines-may-prove-temporary
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Crucial housing market metrics are beginning to look better to start the year, but the recent uptick may only be the result of a delayed foreclosure process.
At the end of January, most metro areas saw prices stabilizing, even picking up in some of the hardest hit areas like Miami and Las Vegas, according to Altos Research.
The average home price in Miami was $465,068, up more than 7% from the previous three months. In Vegas, where prices were cut by more than half during the downturn, prices increased 2% over the same period, cresting more than $140,000.
Inventory is also declining in these cities.
"In many markets, tight inventory of quality properties is another contributing factor keeping a floor on home prices this spring," Altos said.
In the 20 metro areas the company covers, inventory declined more than 14% from November to January.
Vegas, especially, was making progress. The city held fewer than 11,000 properties in its inventory at the end of last month, down more than 38% from November levels.
Declining inventories do not necessarily stem from higher home sales these days but may rather be a product of fewer REO hitting the market. Completed foreclosures in Nevada dropped 26% to 6,328 in 2011 from nearly 8,000 the year before, according to RealtyTrac.
From November to December alone, inventory declined in Vegas by 27%, a change Altos called "staggering."
With mortgage servicers putting the AG settlement behind them in January, the process may be rebooted soon, pushing inventories higher by the end of the year.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/article/housing-inventory-declines-may-prove-temporary
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Buy vs. rent gets clearer over time
Source: New York Times
WHEN the real estate market was booming in 2007, renters showed up at apartments with checkbook in hand, ready to do battle with anyone else who might want the same place. That changed, of course, when the financial crisis hit in 2008. And the heady days that followed, when renters ruled in a down market, are now a fading memory.
In 2011 landlords once again got the upper hand as prices rose and vacancies dwindled. Multiple applications even made a comeback late last summer. All signs say landlords are likely to keep that advantage for a long time. In certain neighborhoods, rents are setting new records, exceeding the heights of 2007. Some landlords say that in extreme cases, eager renters have even bid up rents.
The demand in some buildings has become so intense that there are waiting lists bearing the names of dozens of potential tenants. This was unheard of during the downturn.
Ana Morse, who moved into a three-bedroom at the Solaire in Battery Park City with her husband and two young children last month, put their names on a waiting list last fall, specifically for an apartment in the building’s M-line on a high floor. The family passed on a third-floor apartment that came up in October, but when one on a higher floor became available, “I said I’d be right over with a check,” she said.
With fewer new buildings scheduled to open this year, inventory for luxury rentals will remain tight, helping to keep prices up at the high end. This pressure will inevitably trickle down to the lower end of the market.
Those buildings that have hit the market have pushed luxury to new levels. Hardwood floors have replaced the long-ubiquitous parquet, and washers and dryers in apartments have become de rigueur. To compete for top rents, some landlords are undertaking expensive apartment renovations in older rental buildings. Even 10-year-old properties are being subjected to face-lifts.
“Everything at this point is going in landlords’ favor,” said Gary L. Malin, the president of Citi Habitats, one of the city’s largest rental agencies. “Although we’ve suffered like the rest of the country, our rental market didn’t perform like anywhere else. The lull was really a very short-term blip.”
Mr. Malin and other brokers said that rental prices had been buoyed in part by tighter mortgage lending, which has discouraged many potential first-time buyers from entering the sales market. “There definitely is a larger segment of frustrated buyers who are deciding to stay in rentals than there were a few years ago,” he said, adding that by expanding the pool of renters, these would-be buyers are helping to keep vacancies low and rents high.
Rents in traditionally coveted neighborhoods like the West Village and Chelsea have hit new heights. But records are also being set in areas that are not as well traveled, including the financial district and Midtown West, where new rental towers have helped pull up average prices.
According to Citi Habitats data, the city’s priciest studios can be found in Chelsea, where the average rent is $2,332 a month; and the West Village claims the most expensive one-bedrooms, $3,278 a month.
But the financial district is not far behind, getting record rents for its one-bedrooms, at an average of $3,255 a month, and its two-bedrooms, at $4,575 a month.
The opening of New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street, “raised all ships,” said Nathan Berman, the chief executive of Metro Loft Management, which owns and manages about 1,700 apartments in the financial district.
With three-bedrooms commanding $12,000 a month and one-bedrooms listed at more than $5,000, Mr. Berman said, 8 Spruce “has validated the financial district as an area that can get rents and the type of tenant that would ordinarily be somewhere else in the city.” So even though financial district rents overall are still a little shy of the stratosphere, Mr. Berman said, “because 8 Spruce is achieving those rents, it allows us essentially to start raising rents across the board.”
Eight Spruce, at 76 stories the city’s tallest residential building, is nearly 70 percent leased and will soon be offering apartments above the 60th floor, including penthouses that will rent for $45,000 to $60,000 a month.
Time Equities, which owns and manages about 500 rentals, reports increased competition for many of its Greenwich Village apartments, particularly those that might appeal to students at New York University, who are often desperate to find housing before the start of a new semester. Roberta Axelrod, the firm’s director of residential sales and rentals, said she had seen as many as four applicants for one apartment, with people making offers above the asking price.
Even fifth-floor walk-ups in the Village are commanding top dollar, she said, pointing to a 515-square-foot two-bedroom that recently rented for $3,195 a month. “It was an all-time high for that building and that floor,” she said. “But for two people splitting it, it’s about $1,600 a month, and relatively speaking for Manhattan, that’s affordable for living in a great neighborhood.”
Other buildings have long waiting lists of potential renters.
The Albanese Organization, which owns the Solaire and the Verdesian, both green rental towers in Battery Park City, has a list of 35 families looking to move into either building, whittled down from more than 100 last fall.
“It’s a good indication that there is strong demand and very limited inventory for families wanting to secure a good public school seat downtown,” said Lydia Rapillo, an Albanese vice president. Many of the people on the list find other options before their names come up, but some families have stayed in touch with the leasing office for as long as eight months, because they are willing to wait for a particular apartment, she said.
At 34 Berry, a 142-unit building in Williamsburg that opened in spring 2010, the leasing office had 363 names on a waiting list when the original leases ran out last April. About 60 vacancies were filled from the list, which now stands at 151 names, said David Sigman, an executive vice president of LCOR, the building’s developer.
Carly Salaman was on 34 Berry’s waiting list for about a month in the fall, but only because she was willing to lower her sights from a one-bedroom to an alcove studio. After living in a 350-square-foot studio in Chelsea for eight years, she was hoping for more space. She looked at apartments in Manhattan and in other parts of Brooklyn, but always lost out. “I would get somewhere and it would already be taken,” she said.
At a different Williamsburg building, Ms. Salaman put down a deposit, but the apartment was wrested away by someone who offered $100 above the posted rent of $2,500. She said she was very happy in her 550-square-foot studio, but she still has her name on the waiting list for a one-bedroom.
Fewer new apartments are coming to market this year than in years past, largely because construction financing has been tight and the number of building permits issued by the city fell drastically after 2008. Citi Habitats Marketing Group estimates that there are only about 2,200 new rentals in Manhattan this year, down from more than 3,600 in 2011.
“The economic crisis stalled a lot of projects,” said Clifford Finn, the president for new development marketing of Citi Habitats, “and those projects would have been coming to market now in 2012.” Many projects, including some rentals initially designed to be condos, will finally be finished in 2013 or 2014, he said.
“There definitely will be a lot less new product this year,” said Daria Salusbury, the senior vice president for leasing of the Related Companies. “That means the market is going to get even tighter and prices may do even better than last year.”
Related opened MiMA, a 663-unit rental building on West 42nd Street, last year, and this year it will offer 151 apartments in One MiMA Tower, which is on the top floors of the building and was originally to house condominiums. Rents will be much higher than on the lower floors. Studios in the tower start at $4,595 a month, as opposed to $3,795 at MiMA proper; three-bedrooms at $16,250 a month rather than $11,200.
Even with less new inventory, landlords feel the need to upgrade older properties. “Owners and managers have to reinvest to compete,” said Adam R. Rose, a president of Rose Associates, which manages about 26,000 rentals. “If something opens down the street that’s much fresher, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to keep up.”
The Rose company is spending up to $40,000 per apartment at several of its buildings for upgrades including hardwood floors, fancier bathroom light fixtures, pricey granite composite countertops, new kitchen cabinets and stainless-steel appliances. After the work is done, the apartments generally command 10 percent more rent.
The Capitol in Chelsea is only 11 years old, but Rose has started renovating there because of several newer buildings in the area, including its own Chelsea Landmark. “We used to think a 10-year-old building was still a new building,” Mr. Rose said. “But now we’re ripping out parquet flooring because it screams nine years ago.”
Sofia Estevez, an executive vice president of TF Cornerstone, said it, too, had “raised the bar” for standard renovations. In addition to new kitchens and bathrooms, washers and dryers are being installed in larger apartments, even though Ms. Estevez said she isn’t convinced they’re necessary because many renters send out their laundry. “But,” she said, “too many of our competitors install washers and dryers now, so it became clear to me that we had to get in the game.”
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/buy-vs--rent-gets-clearer-over-time.aspx?cid=BP:021412:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
WHEN the real estate market was booming in 2007, renters showed up at apartments with checkbook in hand, ready to do battle with anyone else who might want the same place. That changed, of course, when the financial crisis hit in 2008. And the heady days that followed, when renters ruled in a down market, are now a fading memory.
In 2011 landlords once again got the upper hand as prices rose and vacancies dwindled. Multiple applications even made a comeback late last summer. All signs say landlords are likely to keep that advantage for a long time. In certain neighborhoods, rents are setting new records, exceeding the heights of 2007. Some landlords say that in extreme cases, eager renters have even bid up rents.
The demand in some buildings has become so intense that there are waiting lists bearing the names of dozens of potential tenants. This was unheard of during the downturn.
Ana Morse, who moved into a three-bedroom at the Solaire in Battery Park City with her husband and two young children last month, put their names on a waiting list last fall, specifically for an apartment in the building’s M-line on a high floor. The family passed on a third-floor apartment that came up in October, but when one on a higher floor became available, “I said I’d be right over with a check,” she said.
With fewer new buildings scheduled to open this year, inventory for luxury rentals will remain tight, helping to keep prices up at the high end. This pressure will inevitably trickle down to the lower end of the market.
Those buildings that have hit the market have pushed luxury to new levels. Hardwood floors have replaced the long-ubiquitous parquet, and washers and dryers in apartments have become de rigueur. To compete for top rents, some landlords are undertaking expensive apartment renovations in older rental buildings. Even 10-year-old properties are being subjected to face-lifts.
“Everything at this point is going in landlords’ favor,” said Gary L. Malin, the president of Citi Habitats, one of the city’s largest rental agencies. “Although we’ve suffered like the rest of the country, our rental market didn’t perform like anywhere else. The lull was really a very short-term blip.”
Mr. Malin and other brokers said that rental prices had been buoyed in part by tighter mortgage lending, which has discouraged many potential first-time buyers from entering the sales market. “There definitely is a larger segment of frustrated buyers who are deciding to stay in rentals than there were a few years ago,” he said, adding that by expanding the pool of renters, these would-be buyers are helping to keep vacancies low and rents high.
Rents in traditionally coveted neighborhoods like the West Village and Chelsea have hit new heights. But records are also being set in areas that are not as well traveled, including the financial district and Midtown West, where new rental towers have helped pull up average prices.
According to Citi Habitats data, the city’s priciest studios can be found in Chelsea, where the average rent is $2,332 a month; and the West Village claims the most expensive one-bedrooms, $3,278 a month.
But the financial district is not far behind, getting record rents for its one-bedrooms, at an average of $3,255 a month, and its two-bedrooms, at $4,575 a month.
The opening of New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street, “raised all ships,” said Nathan Berman, the chief executive of Metro Loft Management, which owns and manages about 1,700 apartments in the financial district.
With three-bedrooms commanding $12,000 a month and one-bedrooms listed at more than $5,000, Mr. Berman said, 8 Spruce “has validated the financial district as an area that can get rents and the type of tenant that would ordinarily be somewhere else in the city.” So even though financial district rents overall are still a little shy of the stratosphere, Mr. Berman said, “because 8 Spruce is achieving those rents, it allows us essentially to start raising rents across the board.”
Eight Spruce, at 76 stories the city’s tallest residential building, is nearly 70 percent leased and will soon be offering apartments above the 60th floor, including penthouses that will rent for $45,000 to $60,000 a month.
Time Equities, which owns and manages about 500 rentals, reports increased competition for many of its Greenwich Village apartments, particularly those that might appeal to students at New York University, who are often desperate to find housing before the start of a new semester. Roberta Axelrod, the firm’s director of residential sales and rentals, said she had seen as many as four applicants for one apartment, with people making offers above the asking price.
Even fifth-floor walk-ups in the Village are commanding top dollar, she said, pointing to a 515-square-foot two-bedroom that recently rented for $3,195 a month. “It was an all-time high for that building and that floor,” she said. “But for two people splitting it, it’s about $1,600 a month, and relatively speaking for Manhattan, that’s affordable for living in a great neighborhood.”
Other buildings have long waiting lists of potential renters.
The Albanese Organization, which owns the Solaire and the Verdesian, both green rental towers in Battery Park City, has a list of 35 families looking to move into either building, whittled down from more than 100 last fall.
“It’s a good indication that there is strong demand and very limited inventory for families wanting to secure a good public school seat downtown,” said Lydia Rapillo, an Albanese vice president. Many of the people on the list find other options before their names come up, but some families have stayed in touch with the leasing office for as long as eight months, because they are willing to wait for a particular apartment, she said.
At 34 Berry, a 142-unit building in Williamsburg that opened in spring 2010, the leasing office had 363 names on a waiting list when the original leases ran out last April. About 60 vacancies were filled from the list, which now stands at 151 names, said David Sigman, an executive vice president of LCOR, the building’s developer.
Carly Salaman was on 34 Berry’s waiting list for about a month in the fall, but only because she was willing to lower her sights from a one-bedroom to an alcove studio. After living in a 350-square-foot studio in Chelsea for eight years, she was hoping for more space. She looked at apartments in Manhattan and in other parts of Brooklyn, but always lost out. “I would get somewhere and it would already be taken,” she said.
At a different Williamsburg building, Ms. Salaman put down a deposit, but the apartment was wrested away by someone who offered $100 above the posted rent of $2,500. She said she was very happy in her 550-square-foot studio, but she still has her name on the waiting list for a one-bedroom.
Fewer new apartments are coming to market this year than in years past, largely because construction financing has been tight and the number of building permits issued by the city fell drastically after 2008. Citi Habitats Marketing Group estimates that there are only about 2,200 new rentals in Manhattan this year, down from more than 3,600 in 2011.
“The economic crisis stalled a lot of projects,” said Clifford Finn, the president for new development marketing of Citi Habitats, “and those projects would have been coming to market now in 2012.” Many projects, including some rentals initially designed to be condos, will finally be finished in 2013 or 2014, he said.
“There definitely will be a lot less new product this year,” said Daria Salusbury, the senior vice president for leasing of the Related Companies. “That means the market is going to get even tighter and prices may do even better than last year.”
Related opened MiMA, a 663-unit rental building on West 42nd Street, last year, and this year it will offer 151 apartments in One MiMA Tower, which is on the top floors of the building and was originally to house condominiums. Rents will be much higher than on the lower floors. Studios in the tower start at $4,595 a month, as opposed to $3,795 at MiMA proper; three-bedrooms at $16,250 a month rather than $11,200.
Even with less new inventory, landlords feel the need to upgrade older properties. “Owners and managers have to reinvest to compete,” said Adam R. Rose, a president of Rose Associates, which manages about 26,000 rentals. “If something opens down the street that’s much fresher, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to keep up.”
The Rose company is spending up to $40,000 per apartment at several of its buildings for upgrades including hardwood floors, fancier bathroom light fixtures, pricey granite composite countertops, new kitchen cabinets and stainless-steel appliances. After the work is done, the apartments generally command 10 percent more rent.
The Capitol in Chelsea is only 11 years old, but Rose has started renovating there because of several newer buildings in the area, including its own Chelsea Landmark. “We used to think a 10-year-old building was still a new building,” Mr. Rose said. “But now we’re ripping out parquet flooring because it screams nine years ago.”
Sofia Estevez, an executive vice president of TF Cornerstone, said it, too, had “raised the bar” for standard renovations. In addition to new kitchens and bathrooms, washers and dryers are being installed in larger apartments, even though Ms. Estevez said she isn’t convinced they’re necessary because many renters send out their laundry. “But,” she said, “too many of our competitors install washers and dryers now, so it became clear to me that we had to get in the game.”
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/buy-vs--rent-gets-clearer-over-time.aspx?cid=BP:021412:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Gentlemen prefer homeowners
Source: CNN/Money
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- When it comes to dating, homeownership can be the ultimate aphrodisiac.
In a survey of 1,000 single people, more than a third of women and 18% of men said they would much rather date a homeowner than a renter.
Only 2% of women said they preferred to date a man who rents, while only 3% of men said they would choose a woman who rents over one that owns her home, according to the survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive for real estate site Trulia.
Both sexes also clearly prefer it when there's no roommate in the picture; 62% of survey respondents, men and women, prefer to date singles who live alone.
I'm home! Adult children move back in with parents
And there was bad news for the growing number of boomerang kids -- the young adults who went off to college, graduated and then wound up back in their old bedrooms. It's going to be hard to find love, except (perhaps) from your parents. Less than 5% of all singles surveyed said they would date someone living in their childhood homes.
"That's a real deal-breaker," said Michael Corbett, a spokesman for Trulia. "If you're still living with your folks, you're dead-on-arrival for dating."
The home they could love
Trulia also asked which home features are the biggest turn-ons. Number one turned out to be a master bath. Men (64%) love that private sanctum almost as much as women (75%) do.
Cool and unusual homes for sale
Walk-in closets were cited by 55% of men and 72% of women and gourmet kitchens got 51% of the male vote and 62% of the female. Hardwood floors, outdoor decks and home theaters also came in high on the list.
Interestingly enough, hot tubs got a lot less love from respondents. Only 26% of men and 22% of women cited the old standby in the science of seduction as an amenity they would truly want.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/gentlemen-prefer-homeowners.aspx?cid=BP:021412:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- When it comes to dating, homeownership can be the ultimate aphrodisiac.
In a survey of 1,000 single people, more than a third of women and 18% of men said they would much rather date a homeowner than a renter.
Only 2% of women said they preferred to date a man who rents, while only 3% of men said they would choose a woman who rents over one that owns her home, according to the survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive for real estate site Trulia.
Both sexes also clearly prefer it when there's no roommate in the picture; 62% of survey respondents, men and women, prefer to date singles who live alone.
I'm home! Adult children move back in with parents
And there was bad news for the growing number of boomerang kids -- the young adults who went off to college, graduated and then wound up back in their old bedrooms. It's going to be hard to find love, except (perhaps) from your parents. Less than 5% of all singles surveyed said they would date someone living in their childhood homes.
"That's a real deal-breaker," said Michael Corbett, a spokesman for Trulia. "If you're still living with your folks, you're dead-on-arrival for dating."
The home they could love
Trulia also asked which home features are the biggest turn-ons. Number one turned out to be a master bath. Men (64%) love that private sanctum almost as much as women (75%) do.
Cool and unusual homes for sale
Walk-in closets were cited by 55% of men and 72% of women and gourmet kitchens got 51% of the male vote and 62% of the female. Hardwood floors, outdoor decks and home theaters also came in high on the list.
Interestingly enough, hot tubs got a lot less love from respondents. Only 26% of men and 22% of women cited the old standby in the science of seduction as an amenity they would truly want.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/gentlemen-prefer-homeowners.aspx?cid=BP:021412:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Monday, February 13, 2012
People don't save enough
Source: Forbes
As a baby boomer, I am in a select group raised to believe that my life was destined to be significantly better than my parents could ever dream. During the 80s my first car cost almost as much as my parents’ first home. We baby boomers were living the American dream; conspicuous consumption was at its finest. Bigger was better; expensive was equivalent to quality.
As a retailer, I embrace the purchasing behaviors of the baby boomers. Consumer sales stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, not all consumers spend wisely. Many baby boomers are worried about retirement. During the course of my research for a new book, The Changing American Consumer, The Prosper Foundation and I examine trends in a wide variety of consumers’ attitudes toward the economy, government, purchasing patterns and lifestyles (e.g., eating habits, use of technology). The source of these Consumer insights is the monthly Consumer Survey from BIGinsight™. This ongoing survey has consistently fielded to over 8,500+ Adults each month since September, 2001 – 10+ years of Consumer Insights.
We found that 31.3% of consumers in households earning $50,000 or more are uncertain if they are saving enough for future needs. An additional 35.9% of this group disagree or strongly disagree regarding their sufficient savings plan. In other words, 67% of consumers in household earning $50,000 or more possess financial concern regarding their future. Our examination of consumers over the age of eighteen reveals an equally unsettling future. Almost 30% are uncertain and an additional 44.1% disagree or strongly disagree that they are saving enough for future needs. That is 73.4% of all consumers do not think they are saving enough for future needs.
The ability to save for the future is often dictated by wealth. The sad but all too familiar results our survey reveals that consumers’ wealth has declined in multiple areas. Home values continue to drop as indicated by 46.8% of the consumers; 40.1% are affected by lost jobs. 38.2% have declining stock market investments, with the same percent experiencing a decline in interest rates on savings. Consumers are being pounded financially from the right and left. They simply couldn’t catch a break. No wonder 80.9% believed the recession is not over.
The dramatic changes in the economy during the past 10 years continue to impact the American consumers’ lifestyle and patterns. These changes influence retailers, manufacturers, and distributors with whom consumers choose to conduct transactions for goods and services. The political community actions and reactions, and the very way we communicate with each other have also been altered as a result of these changes.
As we look back over the past ten years, the rate of change is unprecedented in modern times. Those who chose not to adapt may find themselves unable to cope in this new environment. The intention of “The Changing American Consumer” is to provide these reading constituents – Consumers, Marketers, and Political communities with an analysis of the past trends and understanding of implications for the future. Shining a light on these evolutionary changes will benefit businesses and consumers alike.
The Changing American Consumer draws lessons from the ongoing monthly BIGinsight Consumer Survey, offering a timely analysis of the attitudes, expectations, and intentions of US consumers of all ages and income brackets. This research and analysis reveal the long-term consumer trends that are emerging in the wake of the socio-economic upheaval of the past decade. The lessons drawn will prove vital in assisting companies as they refocus in a changing and uncertain new market. This blog site will provide readers with excerpts and highlights from the book.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/people-dont-save-enough.aspx?cid=BP:021312:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Friday, February 10, 2012
California residents start to see a silver lining: Citi study
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Two thirds of Californians believe their personal financial situation will improve in the next 12 months, a sign that residents in one of the hardest-hit states in terms of unemployment and foreclosures are becoming more optimistic about the U.S. economy, according to a survey issued on Thursday.
California, which boasts the world's eighth-largest economy, is often described as being "first in, last out" of any U.S. recession, so financial optimism in the Golden State may be an indicator that consumer confidence is growing nationally.
Yet the report issued by Citibank also found a stark divide in attitudes between the state's north, home to a booming Silicon Valley, and its south, where high jobless rates and depressed housing markets continue to dog such cities as Los Angeles and San Diego.
The survey found residents in the San Francisco Bay area, where many wealthy technology executives live, far more bullish about the coming year than those in Southern California cities.
"What really struck me this time was the incredible difference between the north and south of the state. It really was quite striking," said Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, president of Citibank California.
In all, nearly half of Californians believe 2012 will be better than 2011, according to the survey, compared to 33 percent who expect this year to be roughly the same and 17 percent who believe things will get worse.
But California consumers are also expressing caution about the economic recovery. Nearly two-thirds say the way they spend and save has changed permanently.
Nearly 60 percent say they have put off buying a major item such as a car. Seven in 10 have cut down on credit card use and nearly two-thirds have reduced the amount of money they owe. And almost half of those aged 35 to 54 are considering putting off retirement.
The quarterly Citi California Pulse survey was conducted from December 16 to 22 last year, among a random sample of 1,480 California residents, aged 18 and older. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/california-residents-start-to-see-a-silver-lining--citi-study.aspx?cid=BP:021012:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
(Reuters) - Two thirds of Californians believe their personal financial situation will improve in the next 12 months, a sign that residents in one of the hardest-hit states in terms of unemployment and foreclosures are becoming more optimistic about the U.S. economy, according to a survey issued on Thursday.
California, which boasts the world's eighth-largest economy, is often described as being "first in, last out" of any U.S. recession, so financial optimism in the Golden State may be an indicator that consumer confidence is growing nationally.
Yet the report issued by Citibank also found a stark divide in attitudes between the state's north, home to a booming Silicon Valley, and its south, where high jobless rates and depressed housing markets continue to dog such cities as Los Angeles and San Diego.
The survey found residents in the San Francisco Bay area, where many wealthy technology executives live, far more bullish about the coming year than those in Southern California cities.
"What really struck me this time was the incredible difference between the north and south of the state. It really was quite striking," said Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, president of Citibank California.
In all, nearly half of Californians believe 2012 will be better than 2011, according to the survey, compared to 33 percent who expect this year to be roughly the same and 17 percent who believe things will get worse.
But California consumers are also expressing caution about the economic recovery. Nearly two-thirds say the way they spend and save has changed permanently.
Nearly 60 percent say they have put off buying a major item such as a car. Seven in 10 have cut down on credit card use and nearly two-thirds have reduced the amount of money they owe. And almost half of those aged 35 to 54 are considering putting off retirement.
The quarterly Citi California Pulse survey was conducted from December 16 to 22 last year, among a random sample of 1,480 California residents, aged 18 and older. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/california-residents-start-to-see-a-silver-lining--citi-study.aspx?cid=BP:021012:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Need a date? Buy a house!
Posted by Jessica Huseman
Still looking for the perfect Valentine's Day romance? You better be ready to sign a mortgage.
According to a recent survey by Trulia, 1 in 3 women and almost 20% of men prefer to date homeowners, while only 2% of Americans prefer to date renters. Is it stability? Financial prowess? The ability to say, “Let's have a drink at my place” and really mean it? Who knows? But percentages don’t lie.
And if you still live with your parents, you better get out of there fast. Turns out only 6% of men and 4% of women are willing to date someone living with their parents. This probably comes as no surprise.
But what will surprise you is that men find the idea of cohabitating to save money more attractive than women — by almost a 10% margin. Nearly 80% of men are in favor of the idea, while about 70% of women are ready to throw in the towel and make the commitment. These are higher percentages than ever before, probably because everyone is equally broke right now.
Trulia also released some stats on what makes men and women fall in love with homes. The usual stereotypes are present in the survey: women look for great master-bathrooms, walk-in closets and gourmet kitchens, while men focus more on home entertainment systems. Pools were a virtual tie (though lower than one might expect at around 26%), while men liked hot tubs 4% more than women.
Interestingly enough, women were more likely to be tipped by a wooden deck than men, as 58% of women wanted a walkable patio space, while 51% of men did. I guess half of the surveyed men are cool with charring their meat outdoors, even if its on the lawn.
If you are looking for more insightful tips, not to fear, this is just a sneak peak. Trulia will release the full results on Monday.
But for now, if you are a guy looking to attract a woman for the long term, you should buy a home — preferably with a spacious walk-in closet, a luxurious master-bathroom, stainless steel appliances and ample 'thin' mirrors. If you are a woman looking for a man, invest in a state of the art surround sound and a hot tub. And even if it doesn't end up working out, you'll at least have increased the resale value of your house.
I think I see cupid peeking out from behind that for sale sign.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/blog/need-date-buy-house
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Still looking for the perfect Valentine's Day romance? You better be ready to sign a mortgage.
According to a recent survey by Trulia, 1 in 3 women and almost 20% of men prefer to date homeowners, while only 2% of Americans prefer to date renters. Is it stability? Financial prowess? The ability to say, “Let's have a drink at my place” and really mean it? Who knows? But percentages don’t lie.
And if you still live with your parents, you better get out of there fast. Turns out only 6% of men and 4% of women are willing to date someone living with their parents. This probably comes as no surprise.
But what will surprise you is that men find the idea of cohabitating to save money more attractive than women — by almost a 10% margin. Nearly 80% of men are in favor of the idea, while about 70% of women are ready to throw in the towel and make the commitment. These are higher percentages than ever before, probably because everyone is equally broke right now.
Trulia also released some stats on what makes men and women fall in love with homes. The usual stereotypes are present in the survey: women look for great master-bathrooms, walk-in closets and gourmet kitchens, while men focus more on home entertainment systems. Pools were a virtual tie (though lower than one might expect at around 26%), while men liked hot tubs 4% more than women.
Interestingly enough, women were more likely to be tipped by a wooden deck than men, as 58% of women wanted a walkable patio space, while 51% of men did. I guess half of the surveyed men are cool with charring their meat outdoors, even if its on the lawn.
If you are looking for more insightful tips, not to fear, this is just a sneak peak. Trulia will release the full results on Monday.
But for now, if you are a guy looking to attract a woman for the long term, you should buy a home — preferably with a spacious walk-in closet, a luxurious master-bathroom, stainless steel appliances and ample 'thin' mirrors. If you are a woman looking for a man, invest in a state of the art surround sound and a hot tub. And even if it doesn't end up working out, you'll at least have increased the resale value of your house.
I think I see cupid peeking out from behind that for sale sign.
URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/blog/need-date-buy-house
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Foreclosures' great head-fake ... inventory plummets
Source: CNN/Money
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Slowly, but surely, the foreclosure crisis seems to be abating.
The number of homes in foreclosure shrunk by 130,000, or 8.4%, in 2011, according to a report from CoreLogic, an economic research firm.
These are homes owned by borrowers who had slipped far behind on payments, forcing lenders to put them into the foreclosure process. The homes remain foreclosure inventory until they're sold -- either at auction or in a short sale, which is when a home is sold for less than the mortgage value -- or until homeowners are current again on payments.
There are dual reasons for the inventory drop, according to Mark Fleming, chief economist with CoreLogic.
Foreclosure deal has 40 states but others balk
"The pace at which properties are entering foreclosure is slowing," he said. "And servicers nationwide stepped up the rate at which they were able to process distressed assets."
In recent years, homes have entered foreclosure more slowly because lenders are carefully scrutinizing applicants; only very low-risk borrowers get loans. That, plus a gradual improvement in the economy, means fewer borrowers are getting into trouble.
Even borrowers in default are not going into the foreclosure process as quickly as they used to. They're being held up by a variety of judicial and regulatory constraints, according to Fleming.
For one thing, the robo-signing issue, in which banks filed sloppy and sometimes improper paperwork, made lenders more cautious about getting their paperwork in order before beginning to process foreclosures.
Once the banks do put homes into foreclosure, they're trying to speed them through it faster. One way they've done that is by encouraging short sales.
Another is that they've stepped up their foreclosure prevention efforts -- often with the aid of numerous government programs such as Home Affordable Modification Program, which the government claims has helped a million Americans keep their homes.
Post-foreclosure
After foreclosures are completed and the homes are back in the hands of their lenders, the homes are being sold very quickly.
"This is the first time in a year that REO sales [those of bank-owned properties] have outpaced completed foreclosures," said Fleming.
In December 2011, there were 103 sales of bank-owned homes for every 100 homes in foreclosure inventory. That was up considerably from November 2010, when there were only 94 REO sales for every 100 in the foreclosure process.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/foreclosures--great-head-fake-----inventory-plummets.aspx?cid=BP:020912:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Slowly, but surely, the foreclosure crisis seems to be abating.
The number of homes in foreclosure shrunk by 130,000, or 8.4%, in 2011, according to a report from CoreLogic, an economic research firm.
These are homes owned by borrowers who had slipped far behind on payments, forcing lenders to put them into the foreclosure process. The homes remain foreclosure inventory until they're sold -- either at auction or in a short sale, which is when a home is sold for less than the mortgage value -- or until homeowners are current again on payments.
There are dual reasons for the inventory drop, according to Mark Fleming, chief economist with CoreLogic.
Foreclosure deal has 40 states but others balk
"The pace at which properties are entering foreclosure is slowing," he said. "And servicers nationwide stepped up the rate at which they were able to process distressed assets."
In recent years, homes have entered foreclosure more slowly because lenders are carefully scrutinizing applicants; only very low-risk borrowers get loans. That, plus a gradual improvement in the economy, means fewer borrowers are getting into trouble.
Even borrowers in default are not going into the foreclosure process as quickly as they used to. They're being held up by a variety of judicial and regulatory constraints, according to Fleming.
For one thing, the robo-signing issue, in which banks filed sloppy and sometimes improper paperwork, made lenders more cautious about getting their paperwork in order before beginning to process foreclosures.
Once the banks do put homes into foreclosure, they're trying to speed them through it faster. One way they've done that is by encouraging short sales.
Another is that they've stepped up their foreclosure prevention efforts -- often with the aid of numerous government programs such as Home Affordable Modification Program, which the government claims has helped a million Americans keep their homes.
Post-foreclosure
After foreclosures are completed and the homes are back in the hands of their lenders, the homes are being sold very quickly.
"This is the first time in a year that REO sales [those of bank-owned properties] have outpaced completed foreclosures," said Fleming.
In December 2011, there were 103 sales of bank-owned homes for every 100 homes in foreclosure inventory. That was up considerably from November 2010, when there were only 94 REO sales for every 100 in the foreclosure process.
URL to original article: http://www.builderonline.com/builder-pulse/foreclosures--great-head-fake-----inventory-plummets.aspx?cid=BP:020912:JUMP
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
CoreLogic December Home Price Index Gives First Look at Full-year 2011 Price Changes
––Prices fell by 4.7 percent nationally in 2011––
CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released its December Home Price Index (HPI®) report, the most timely and comprehensive source of home prices available today, giving the first look at full-year 2011 price changes. The CoreLogic HPI shows that, including distressed sales, home prices in the U.S. decreased 4.7 percent in 2011 compared with December 2010. This year-end report shows that home prices continued the trend of year-end decreases—this is the fifth consecutive year with a decrease in the HPI. The HPI excluding distressed sales shows that home prices decreased by 0.9 percent in 2011, giving an indication of the impact of distressed sales on home prices in 2011.
The report also shows that national home prices including distressed sales decreased 1.4 percent on a month-over-month basis, the fifth consecutive monthly decline. However, the HPI excluding distressed sales posted its first month-over-month gain since July 2011, rising 0.2 percent.
The December drop in home prices follows a decline of 4.3 percent* in November 2011 compared to November 2010. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 2.0* percent in November 2011 compared to November 2010. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.
“While overall prices declined by almost 5 percent in 2011, non-distressed prices showed only a small decrease. Until distressed sales in the market recede, we will see continued downward pressure on prices,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.
Highlights as of December 2011
Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were: Montana (+4.4 percent), Vermont (+4.0 percent), South Dakota (+3.1 percent), Nebraska (+2.5 percent) and New York (+1.7 percent).
Including distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were: Illinois (-11.3 percent), Nevada (-10.6 percent), Georgia (-8.3 percent), Ohio (-7.7 percent), and Minnesota (-7.5 percent).
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were: Montana (+7.7 percent), South Dakota (+3.5 percent), Indiana (+3.3 percent), Alaska (+3.1 percent), and Massachusetts (+2.9 percent).
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were: Nevada (-9.7 percent), Minnesota (-5.2 percent), Arizona (-4.9 percent), Delaware (-4.2 percent) and Michigan (-3.5 percent).
Including distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the national HPI (from April 2006 to December 2011) was -33.7 percent. Excluding distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the HPI for the same period was -24.0 percent.
The five states with the largest peak-to-current declines including distressed transactions are Nevada (-60.0 percent), Arizona (-51.9 percent), Florida (-50 percent), Michigan (-43.7 percent), and California (-43.5 percent).
Of the top 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, 81 are showing year-over-year declines in December, one more than in November.
Full-month December 2011 national, state-level and top CBSA-level data can be found at http://www.corelogic.com/HPIDecember2011.
*November data was revised. Revisions with public records data are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates the newly released public data to provide updated results.
Methodology
The CoreLogic HPI incorporates more than 30 years’ worth of repeat sales transactions, representing more than 65 million observations sourced from CoreLogic industry-leading property information and its securities and servicing databases. The CoreLogic HPI provides a multi-tier market evaluation based on price, time between sales, property type, loan type (conforming vs. nonconforming), and distressed sales. The CoreLogic HPI is a repeat-sales index that tracks increases and decreases in sales prices for the same homes over time, including single-family attached and single-family detached homes, which provides a more accurate "constant-quality" view of pricing trends than basing analysis on all home sales. The CoreLogic HPI provides the most comprehensive set of monthly home price indices and median sales prices available covering 6,645 ZIP codes (58 percent of total U.S. population), 608 Core Based Statistical Areas (86 percent of total U.S. population) and 1,154 counties (84 percent of total U.S. population) located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
About CoreLogic
CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is a leading provider of consumer, financial and property information, analytics and services to business and government. The Company combines public, contributory and proprietary data to develop predictive decision analytics and provide business services that bring dynamic insight and transparency to the markets it serves. CoreLogic has built one of the largest and most comprehensive U.S. real estate, mortgage application, fraud, and loan performance databases and is a recognized leading provider of mortgage and automotive credit reporting, property tax, valuation, flood determination, and geospatial analytics and services. More than one million users rely on CoreLogic to assess risk, support underwriting, investment and marketing decisions, prevent fraud, and improve business performance in their daily operations. The Company, headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., has more than 5,000 employees globally. For more information visit www.corelogic.com.
Source: CoreLogic
The data provided is for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient's publication or broadcast. This data may not be re-sold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipient's parent company without prior written permission from CoreLogic. Any CoreLogic data used for publication or broadcast, in whole or in part, must be sourced as coming from CoreLogic, a data and analytics company. For use with broadcast or web content, the citation must directly accompany first reference of the data. If the data is illustrated with maps, charts, graphs or other visual elements, the CoreLogic logo must be included on screen or web site. For questions, analysis or interpretation of the data, contact Lori Guyton at lguyton@cvic.com or Bill Campbell at bill@campbelllewis.com. Data provided may not be modified without the prior written permission of CoreLogic. Do not use the data in any unlawful manner. This data is compiled from public records, contributory databases and proprietary analytics, and its accuracy is dependent upon these sources.
URL to original article: http://www.corelogic.com/about-us/news/corelogic-december-home-price-index-gives-first-look-at-full-year-2011-price-changes.aspx
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released its December Home Price Index (HPI®) report, the most timely and comprehensive source of home prices available today, giving the first look at full-year 2011 price changes. The CoreLogic HPI shows that, including distressed sales, home prices in the U.S. decreased 4.7 percent in 2011 compared with December 2010. This year-end report shows that home prices continued the trend of year-end decreases—this is the fifth consecutive year with a decrease in the HPI. The HPI excluding distressed sales shows that home prices decreased by 0.9 percent in 2011, giving an indication of the impact of distressed sales on home prices in 2011.
The report also shows that national home prices including distressed sales decreased 1.4 percent on a month-over-month basis, the fifth consecutive monthly decline. However, the HPI excluding distressed sales posted its first month-over-month gain since July 2011, rising 0.2 percent.
The December drop in home prices follows a decline of 4.3 percent* in November 2011 compared to November 2010. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 2.0* percent in November 2011 compared to November 2010. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.
“While overall prices declined by almost 5 percent in 2011, non-distressed prices showed only a small decrease. Until distressed sales in the market recede, we will see continued downward pressure on prices,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.
Highlights as of December 2011
Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were: Montana (+4.4 percent), Vermont (+4.0 percent), South Dakota (+3.1 percent), Nebraska (+2.5 percent) and New York (+1.7 percent).
Including distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were: Illinois (-11.3 percent), Nevada (-10.6 percent), Georgia (-8.3 percent), Ohio (-7.7 percent), and Minnesota (-7.5 percent).
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were: Montana (+7.7 percent), South Dakota (+3.5 percent), Indiana (+3.3 percent), Alaska (+3.1 percent), and Massachusetts (+2.9 percent).
Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were: Nevada (-9.7 percent), Minnesota (-5.2 percent), Arizona (-4.9 percent), Delaware (-4.2 percent) and Michigan (-3.5 percent).
Including distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the national HPI (from April 2006 to December 2011) was -33.7 percent. Excluding distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the HPI for the same period was -24.0 percent.
The five states with the largest peak-to-current declines including distressed transactions are Nevada (-60.0 percent), Arizona (-51.9 percent), Florida (-50 percent), Michigan (-43.7 percent), and California (-43.5 percent).
Of the top 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, 81 are showing year-over-year declines in December, one more than in November.
Full-month December 2011 national, state-level and top CBSA-level data can be found at http://www.corelogic.com/HPIDecember2011.
*November data was revised. Revisions with public records data are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates the newly released public data to provide updated results.
Methodology
The CoreLogic HPI incorporates more than 30 years’ worth of repeat sales transactions, representing more than 65 million observations sourced from CoreLogic industry-leading property information and its securities and servicing databases. The CoreLogic HPI provides a multi-tier market evaluation based on price, time between sales, property type, loan type (conforming vs. nonconforming), and distressed sales. The CoreLogic HPI is a repeat-sales index that tracks increases and decreases in sales prices for the same homes over time, including single-family attached and single-family detached homes, which provides a more accurate "constant-quality" view of pricing trends than basing analysis on all home sales. The CoreLogic HPI provides the most comprehensive set of monthly home price indices and median sales prices available covering 6,645 ZIP codes (58 percent of total U.S. population), 608 Core Based Statistical Areas (86 percent of total U.S. population) and 1,154 counties (84 percent of total U.S. population) located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
About CoreLogic
CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is a leading provider of consumer, financial and property information, analytics and services to business and government. The Company combines public, contributory and proprietary data to develop predictive decision analytics and provide business services that bring dynamic insight and transparency to the markets it serves. CoreLogic has built one of the largest and most comprehensive U.S. real estate, mortgage application, fraud, and loan performance databases and is a recognized leading provider of mortgage and automotive credit reporting, property tax, valuation, flood determination, and geospatial analytics and services. More than one million users rely on CoreLogic to assess risk, support underwriting, investment and marketing decisions, prevent fraud, and improve business performance in their daily operations. The Company, headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., has more than 5,000 employees globally. For more information visit www.corelogic.com.
Source: CoreLogic
The data provided is for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient's publication or broadcast. This data may not be re-sold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipient's parent company without prior written permission from CoreLogic. Any CoreLogic data used for publication or broadcast, in whole or in part, must be sourced as coming from CoreLogic, a data and analytics company. For use with broadcast or web content, the citation must directly accompany first reference of the data. If the data is illustrated with maps, charts, graphs or other visual elements, the CoreLogic logo must be included on screen or web site. For questions, analysis or interpretation of the data, contact Lori Guyton at lguyton@cvic.com or Bill Campbell at bill@campbelllewis.com. Data provided may not be modified without the prior written permission of CoreLogic. Do not use the data in any unlawful manner. This data is compiled from public records, contributory databases and proprietary analytics, and its accuracy is dependent upon these sources.
URL to original article: http://www.corelogic.com/about-us/news/corelogic-december-home-price-index-gives-first-look-at-full-year-2011-price-changes.aspx
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
Fed Actions Drive Mortgage Rate Expectations
Pete Bakel
WASHINGTON, DC – The majority of Americans continue to expect no change in mortgage rates over the next 12 months, according to results from Fannie Mae’s January 2012 National Housing Survey. At the same time, their expectations for home prices have improved for the fourth month in a row, with respondents expecting prices to go up by 1.0 percent, on average, during the year. Consumer sentiment is improving from its depressed level last summer, with current attitudes very similar to those of a year ago. Forty-four percent of respondents expect their personal financial situation to improve, up from 40 percent a month ago, and 30 percent of Americans believe the economy is on the right track, up from 22 percent last month and up for the third straight month since November 2011.
“Consumer sentiment has continued to rebound to the level witnessed around a year ago since hitting a setback last summer. The strengthening employment picture last Friday provides encouragement that the improving trend in consumer confidence will continue and will at some point be reflected in a firming up of consumer spending,” said Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae. “That rebound may be slow in coming as consumers still seem to be deleveraging and aren't yet fully confident of their household finances.”
“The Federal Reserve’s pledge to keep interest rates low beyond 2014, extending their prior time frame of mid-2013 announced in the summer, appears to have been reflected in the rising share of consumers expecting the rate to remain near record low levels for another year,” Duncan stated. “At the same time, consumers expect home prices to rise over the next year, extending the streak of rising home price expectations to four months. If the employment market continues to strengthen, it is unlikely that the Fed will be able to keep its low interest pledge for long, and a more meaningful housing recovery may not be far behind if consumers are faced with the prospect of rising mortgage rates and home prices amid increased job security.”
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
Homeownership and Renting
•On average, Americans expect home prices to increase by 1.0 percent over the next 12 months, continuing the upward trend started in October 2011.
•Twenty-eight percent of respondents expect home prices to increase over the next 12 months (up 2 percentage points since last month), while 16 percent say they expect home prices to decline (down 2 percentage points since last month). Fifty-one percent say prices will stay the same.
•Only 8 percent of Americans say that mortgage rates will go down in the next 12 months, down 2 percentage points from December.
•The percentage of respondents who say it is a good time to buy stayed at 71 percent this month, while the percentage who say it is a good time to sell dropped by 1 percentage point to 10 percent.
•On average, respondents expect home rental prices to increase by 3.2 percent over the next 12 months, down from 3.5 percent in December.
•The same percentage of respondents as last month say rental prices will go up (43 percent), go down (5 percent), and stay the same (46 percent).
•Sixty-four percent of respondents say they would buy their next home, while 30 percent say they would rent their next home, down 1 percentage point from last month.
The Economy and Household Finances
•The percentage of respondents who say the economy is on the right track continued to rise this month, reaching 30 percent, an 8 percentage point increase since last month. The percentage who say the economy is on the wrong track dropped to 63 percent, a decline of 6 percentage points.
•A larger share of respondents (44 percent) say their personal financial situation will get better over the next 12 months than say it will stay the same (41 percent), continuing the gains seen last month.
•Seventeen percent of respondents say their income is significantly lower than it was 12 months ago (down 2 percentage points since November), while 62 percent say it has stayed the same (up 3 percentage points).
•Thirty-six percent say their expenses have increased significantly over the past 12 months, a 3 point decrease from last month and the lowest level in the past 12 months.
The most detailed consumer attitudinal survey of its kind, the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey polled 1,000 Americans via live telephone interview to assess their attitudes toward owning and renting a home, mortgage rates, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances, and overall consumer confidence. Homeowners and renters are asked more than 100 questions used to track attitudinal shifts (findings are compared to the same survey conducted monthly beginning June 2010). Fannie Mae conducts this survey and shares monthly and quarterly results so that we may help industry partners and market participants target our collective efforts to stabilize the housing market in the near-term, and provide support in the future.
For detailed findings from the January 2012 survey, as well as technical notes on survey methodology and the questions asked of respondents associated with each monthly indicator, please visit the Fannie Mae Monthly National Housing Survey site. Also available on the site are quarterly survey results, which provide a detailed assessment of combined data results from three monthly studies. The January 2012 Fannie Mae National Housing Survey was conducted between January 9, 2012 and January 27, 2012. Interviews were conducted by Penn Schoen Berland, in coordination with Fannie Mae.
Fannie Mae exists to expand affordable housing and bring global capital to local communities in order to serve the U.S. housing market. Fannie Mae has a federal charter and operates in America's secondary mortgage market to enhance the liquidity of the mortgage market by providing funds to mortgage bankers and other lenders so that they may lend to home buyers. Our job is to help those who house America.
URL to original article: http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/about-us/media/corporate-news/2012/5635.html
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
WASHINGTON, DC – The majority of Americans continue to expect no change in mortgage rates over the next 12 months, according to results from Fannie Mae’s January 2012 National Housing Survey. At the same time, their expectations for home prices have improved for the fourth month in a row, with respondents expecting prices to go up by 1.0 percent, on average, during the year. Consumer sentiment is improving from its depressed level last summer, with current attitudes very similar to those of a year ago. Forty-four percent of respondents expect their personal financial situation to improve, up from 40 percent a month ago, and 30 percent of Americans believe the economy is on the right track, up from 22 percent last month and up for the third straight month since November 2011.
“Consumer sentiment has continued to rebound to the level witnessed around a year ago since hitting a setback last summer. The strengthening employment picture last Friday provides encouragement that the improving trend in consumer confidence will continue and will at some point be reflected in a firming up of consumer spending,” said Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae. “That rebound may be slow in coming as consumers still seem to be deleveraging and aren't yet fully confident of their household finances.”
“The Federal Reserve’s pledge to keep interest rates low beyond 2014, extending their prior time frame of mid-2013 announced in the summer, appears to have been reflected in the rising share of consumers expecting the rate to remain near record low levels for another year,” Duncan stated. “At the same time, consumers expect home prices to rise over the next year, extending the streak of rising home price expectations to four months. If the employment market continues to strengthen, it is unlikely that the Fed will be able to keep its low interest pledge for long, and a more meaningful housing recovery may not be far behind if consumers are faced with the prospect of rising mortgage rates and home prices amid increased job security.”
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
Homeownership and Renting
•On average, Americans expect home prices to increase by 1.0 percent over the next 12 months, continuing the upward trend started in October 2011.
•Twenty-eight percent of respondents expect home prices to increase over the next 12 months (up 2 percentage points since last month), while 16 percent say they expect home prices to decline (down 2 percentage points since last month). Fifty-one percent say prices will stay the same.
•Only 8 percent of Americans say that mortgage rates will go down in the next 12 months, down 2 percentage points from December.
•The percentage of respondents who say it is a good time to buy stayed at 71 percent this month, while the percentage who say it is a good time to sell dropped by 1 percentage point to 10 percent.
•On average, respondents expect home rental prices to increase by 3.2 percent over the next 12 months, down from 3.5 percent in December.
•The same percentage of respondents as last month say rental prices will go up (43 percent), go down (5 percent), and stay the same (46 percent).
•Sixty-four percent of respondents say they would buy their next home, while 30 percent say they would rent their next home, down 1 percentage point from last month.
The Economy and Household Finances
•The percentage of respondents who say the economy is on the right track continued to rise this month, reaching 30 percent, an 8 percentage point increase since last month. The percentage who say the economy is on the wrong track dropped to 63 percent, a decline of 6 percentage points.
•A larger share of respondents (44 percent) say their personal financial situation will get better over the next 12 months than say it will stay the same (41 percent), continuing the gains seen last month.
•Seventeen percent of respondents say their income is significantly lower than it was 12 months ago (down 2 percentage points since November), while 62 percent say it has stayed the same (up 3 percentage points).
•Thirty-six percent say their expenses have increased significantly over the past 12 months, a 3 point decrease from last month and the lowest level in the past 12 months.
The most detailed consumer attitudinal survey of its kind, the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey polled 1,000 Americans via live telephone interview to assess their attitudes toward owning and renting a home, mortgage rates, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances, and overall consumer confidence. Homeowners and renters are asked more than 100 questions used to track attitudinal shifts (findings are compared to the same survey conducted monthly beginning June 2010). Fannie Mae conducts this survey and shares monthly and quarterly results so that we may help industry partners and market participants target our collective efforts to stabilize the housing market in the near-term, and provide support in the future.
For detailed findings from the January 2012 survey, as well as technical notes on survey methodology and the questions asked of respondents associated with each monthly indicator, please visit the Fannie Mae Monthly National Housing Survey site. Also available on the site are quarterly survey results, which provide a detailed assessment of combined data results from three monthly studies. The January 2012 Fannie Mae National Housing Survey was conducted between January 9, 2012 and January 27, 2012. Interviews were conducted by Penn Schoen Berland, in coordination with Fannie Mae.
Fannie Mae exists to expand affordable housing and bring global capital to local communities in order to serve the U.S. housing market. Fannie Mae has a federal charter and operates in America's secondary mortgage market to enhance the liquidity of the mortgage market by providing funds to mortgage bankers and other lenders so that they may lend to home buyers. Our job is to help those who house America.
URL to original article: http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/about-us/media/corporate-news/2012/5635.html
For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com
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