Daily Archives: August 4, 2013

U.K. House Prices Hit Five-Year High Amid Bubble Fears | Katonah Real Estate

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U.K. house prices rose to a five-year high in July as a controversial government support program fuels fears that another house price bubble may be in the making.

The Help to Buy program supports buyers by offering cheaper mortgages but doesn’t guarantee new housing supply. Help to Buy and increased home loans from banks using the separate Funding for Lending program enable home sellers to ask for higher prices for a short supply of residential property.

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Bloomberg News

A pedestrian crosses a street between rows of residential properties in the Notting Hill district of London on July 25.

That potential mismatch between demand and supply has prompted many economists to question the wisdom of the government’s support programs, fearing that they may lead to a sharp rise in house prices that can’t be sustained over the long run.

The rise in house prices is in line with other indicators that suggest the U.K.’s long-awaited economic recovery is gaining momentum. A survey of purchasing managers at construction companies released Friday recorded a surge in activity during July.

However, with wage growth remaining below inflation, Britons are still seeing their real incomes falling. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research on Friday said that Britons are being forced to dip into their savings to maintain their living standards.

A reliance on rising house prices and spending that outstrips income growth would reprise the weaknesses that contributed to the economy’s sharp contraction in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Since then, the government and Bank of England have said they want to see a more balanced economy, with growth also driven by exports and increased business investment. But that rebalancing has yet to begin.

“House prices are already overvalued, and with many first-time buyers already locked out of the market, it is unlikely they are happy at the prospect of having to take on even more debt to realize their homeownership aspirations,” said Matthew Pointon, an economist at Capital Economics.

 

U.K. House Prices Hit Five-Year High Amid Bubble Fears – WSJ.com.

Housing Prices Continue Climbing | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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The solid housing recovery is supporting further gains in home prices, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller report released Tuesday. Kathleen Madigan joins MoneyBeat with details.

 

Home prices in 10 major U.S. cities increased 11.8% in the year ended in May, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. Home values in 20 cities were up 12.2% on the year, compared to a 12.4% gain projected by economists.

 

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the 10-city index increased 2.5% in May from April, and the 20-city index increased 2.4%.

 

Prices in Dallas and Denver surpassed their pre-financial crisis peaks set in June 2007 and August 2006, respectively. “This is the first time any city has made a new all-time high,” the report said.

 

In addition, five cities—Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle—posted monthly gains of more than 3% for the first time, said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

 

Home prices have been rising for more than a year. Low mortgage rates and stronger job growth lifted demand at a time when supplies of homes were relatively tight.

 

The recent increase in mortgage rates could slow the uptrend in home prices. Some potential buyers may no longer qualify for a mortgage at the higher rates, and they may have to lower their price bids on a home in order to keep the monthly mortgage payments down to an affordable level.

 

Averaged across all cities, the home price indexes have returned to levels last seen in the spring of 2004, but remain 24%-25% below the June-July 2006 peaks, said the report.

 

 

Housing Prices Continue Climbing – WSJ.com.

What To Expect From Housing In The Second Half Of 2013

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The U.S. housing recovery continues to make gains. New home sales have surged 38% since last year, hitting a five-year high in June, according to the newest figures from the Commerce Department. And despite a monthly drop in activity, sales of previously owned homes remain 15% higher than last year as well, according to the National Association of Realtors.

 

If housing in the first six months of 2013 could be summed up in one sentence, it would go something like this: Inventory is painfully tight, sales activity is surging and home prices have jumping.

 

Now real estate experts are sounding off on the trends that will help shape the sector in the second half of 2013. Here’s what you need to know.

 

We Are Not Re-inflating A Bubble

 

Home prices have clocked double-digit price appreciation this year. Prices across the 20 major U.S. metro markets were 12% higher in April than they were a year before, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Other indexes have registered similarly dramatic gains. The last time prices appreciated by double digits were during the last housing bubble, motivating to question whether a new bubble is beginning to inflate.

 

It isn’t.  The current pace of growth, while certainly unsustainable for long term market health, is nothing to worry about just yet. “Prices are now rising as fast as they were during the bubble years, but they are still low relative to the levels where they were back then,” explains Jed Kolko, chief economist of Trulia TRLA -0.65%, a San Francisco, Calif.-based real estate site.

 

He says prices are actually undervalued across most of the country, lower not just than their bubble-era peaks but also lower than their historical norms when adjusted for inflation.

 

“You can sort of think of it as we overshot on the way down and this is sort of a correction back to something more normal,” adds Mark Fleming, chief economist of CoreLogic, an Irvine, Calif.-based real estate data firm.

 

 

What To Expect From Housing In The Second Half Of 2013 – Forbes.

The Portrait of a LinkedIn User in 2013 | Bedford Hills Realtor

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According to this infographic, two people join LinkedIn every second of every day. It then proceeds to ask “Then what?”

“How are they using it and is it really helping them?” this infographic from Power Formula asks.

According to the infographic, though LinkedIn has a paid option, 84.4 percent of people who use it use the free version of the social networking site. That is, just 15.1 percent pay to use linkedIn. There is a small number of LinkedIn users (0.5 percent) who are not sure whether they use the free or the paid version of the professional-leaning social network.

When it comes to first-level connections – that is, the people a user is directly connected to – the largest group is at 500 to 999 connections (21.7 percent). The smallest group is not those with fewer connections, it’s those who have 300 or more connections (1.3 percent).

Looking at the numbers LinkedIn consultant and author Wayne Brietbarth provided Power Formula, the next largest group of first-level connections is people who have 301 to 499 connections (18.7 percent) followed by people who have 101 to 200 connections (15.9 percent).

As to sharing their first-level network with their first-level connections, most LinkedIn user share who they are connected to (63.3 percent). Only 12.2 percent keep their first-level network private to their first-level connections. However, 24.5 percent are not sure so maybe their LinkedIn settings are not really transparent to them.

LinkedIn, users, data, infographic,

When talking about groups, the LinkedIn user of 2013 mostly is a member in 1 to 9 groups (35.5 percent). The infographic notes that 2.2 percent of LinkedIn users are not members of any group, 25.1 percent are members of 10 to 19 groups, 9.3 percent are members of 20 to 29 groups, 4 percent are members of 30 to 39 groups, 7.8 percent are members of 40 to 49 groups, a large 14 percent are members of 50 groups (the maximum number of groups LinkedIn allows a user to be a member of), and 2 percent have no idea that LinkedIn had groups.

Meanwhile, more than half (52.2 percent) of those asked said they use LinkedIn 0 to 2 hours every week which is not a great statistic if you are LinkedIn. Nonetheless, there are people who use it more than that with most of the others using it 3 to 4 hours every week.

When asked how LinkedIn has helped them, the most common answer users gave was that the social network helped them research people and companies (75.8 percent). The second-most given answer to the question was that LinedIn helped reconnect with past business associates and colleagues (70.6 percent). The least-given answer was generating identifiable business opportunities at 28.3 percent.

Learn more including what feature LinkedIn users think is the most helpful, company page statistics and how company pages are used, and how important people think LinkedIn is in the Power Formula infographic below.

LinkedIn, users, data, infographic,

 

 

The Portrait of a LinkedIn User in 2013 | Social Media Today.

Mapping New York City Neighborhoods’ Median Rents for July | Katonah Real Estate

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zumpermedianjuly_8_13.jpg

New York City can never have too many charts and maps illustrating median rents in different neighborhoods. The folks at listings website Zumper have followed up on their May pricing map with two for July, shown above, illustrating median rents for one- and two-bedrooms in Manhattan, a few neighborhoods of Brooklyn, and Astoria. Once again, Tribeca retained its “most expensive” crown with a median price of $4,200/month for a 1BR and $7,695/month for a 2BR.

The next most expensive neighborhoods were—completely non-shockingly—Soho, with a median rent of $3,550/month for 1BRs, and Greenwich Village, at $3,500/month. The best deals were to be found on the East Side, with the Lower East Side median-ing $2,395/month and the Upper East Side $2,495/month

 

Mapping New York City Neighborhoods’ Median Rents for July – Cool Map Thing – Curbed NY.

Westchester Foreclosure Filings Surge In First Half Of 2013 | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Foreclosure filings on houses in Westchester County surged to their highest point since the housing crash of 2008, with nearly 1,500 foreclosures reported in the first half of 2013.

The Westchester County Clerk’s office reported 1,426 foreclosure actions started between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year, as compared with 824 during the same period last year.

The number of foreclosures surpassed the number at the height of the 2008 housing crisis, when first half numbers reached 1,410 foreclosures.

Foreclosure numbers had been trending in a positive direction, with only 824 foreclosures reported in the first half of 2012. That was the lowest amount of foreclosures since 2006.

The negative foreclosure numbers come on the heels of national news that housing prices have increased 12.2-percent since last year.

Westchester County Clerk Timothy C. Idoni cautioned Westchester residents facing foreclosure in a statement to be wary of foreclosure schemes.

He recommended contacting Westchester Residential Opportunities (WRO), a non-profit housing agency with offices in White Plains and Mount Vernon to get information on foreclosures.

 

Westchester Foreclosure Filings Surge In First Half Of 2013 | The Armonk Daily Voice.

Ultimate Recycling: Relocating a House | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Watching a large house roll down the road on a truck is enough to make most of us do a double take. We tend to think of houses as being stable and stationary. With the right equipment, though, almost any house can be moved to a new location. Relocating a house is recycling on the largest scale many of us can achieve, and in addition to saving resources, this option may save you money, too.

Buying and moving a house is a possibility for anyone who finds the perfect piece of land that doesn’t include the perfect house. This scenario is especially common for homesteaders — if you’re interested in gardening, farming or raising animals, you’ll probably have to look long and hard to find land that meets your needs. Odds are not high of also getting a good house with the land you choose.

Houses are torn down all the time to make way for new highways, suburban developments or large institutions, such as an expanding hospital or university. These buildings are often sold for a song — or given away — on the condition that they’re moved off the property. The catch is that you have to pay to move a house, and even if you already own the land, you’ll have to figure in the costs of a new foundation, plumbing, utility hookups, and any other amenities. Still, moving a house can make financial sense.

Regardless of whether financial savings are your main priority, choosing an existing house is a significant way to reduce your environmental impact, because you’ll use far fewer new materials than you would if you built a new house. You may also be able to find a house with higher-quality wood and other materials than you’d likely be able to get in new construction. Or perhaps the reason you want to move a house is purely nostalgic — you’ve fallen for the charms of an older home and want to preserve it.

That was the case for Glenn and Denise Bowman. In 2006, they bought a home that was built in about 1840 and moved it to a rural property in Clarksville, Md. The house had been a fixture in their community, but it was on land owned by an auto dealership whose owners wanted to expand their business. If the house wasn’t moved, it was going to be demolished.

After falling in love with the house, the Bowmans just couldn’t let that happen. So, working through a local historic preservation organization, the couple got in touch with the building’s owners and bought it for a bargain price of $1, just enough to make it an official sale. The cost to relocate the house 3 miles was much higher — about $55,000 just for the move. That’s at the high end of what people pay for a move, mainly because the house was a three-story structure. The Bowmans say their decision to save this home has definitely been worth it — they’re enjoying restoring their house, and have blogged about it at 12 Hills. “We’re in it for the joy of it,” Glenn says. “It’s the house we want to raise our kid in.”

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/relocating-a-house-zm0z13aszsor.aspx?newsletter=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=GEGH%20eNews&utm_campaign=08.02.13%20GEGH#ixzz2b1a87aBo

 

Ultimate Recycling: Relocating a House – Green Homes – MOTHER EARTH NEWS.

Live Near A Clinton At The Whitman’s Bonkers $25M Penthouse | Armonk Real Estate

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Event: A “top broker lawn party” to launch the sale of The Whitman‘s new-to-market penthouse
In the house: Every broker under the sun (seriously, more than 150 of them), including Elliman bigwigs Howard Lorber and Dottie Herman, as well as Fredrik Eklund, who made an appearance before his Million Dollar Listing New Yorkfinale party, plus architect Jeffrey Cole, contractor Allan Bloom of Facet Construction and his team, and a smattering of potential buyers
Dress code: Sleek summer dresses paired with sky-high heels for the ladies; summer suits for the gents, sometimes sans jackets, and the occasional dude in shorts with a backpack. What was he doing there?
Menu: An assortment of delicious chichi canapes (asiago and artichoke pizzette, barbequed duck crepes, Maryland crab cakes, summer rolls) and libations from not one but two bars
Overheard: “Look at this view!” “Oh, the hoi polloi is here.” “Where’s all the wine?” “It’s gor-gee-oso!”

Conversion The Whitman only has four residences, and the three on lower floors, priced in the $10 million ballpark, are already spoken for—one by former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, who made a splash with an early buy of $10.5M back in March. That leaves the penthouse, a 10,000-square-foot giantess of a full-floor duplex that overlooks Madison Square Park. It’s asking$25,000,000. The 3,000-plus square feet of outdoor space includes a terrace on the lower level and a big, landscaped roof deck above the living room that both overlook Madison Square Park, plus a croquet pitch between the upstairs den and the master bed and bath, and a putting green behind the master bath, facing 27th Street. As party attendees oohed, aahed, and passed judgement over the luxurious trappings—courtesy of interior designer Jeremiah Brent (it’s actually the first New York project for the partner of designer Nate Berkus)—some of the 4BR/6.5BA apartment’s luxe amenities made themselves apparent.

The keyed elevator (note: still under construction) opens up onto a private foyer that will soon be enclosed in some kind of fancy notched semi-opaque glass—Cole was particularly enthusiastic about this, as well as the to-be-installed banister of the stairwell to the roof deck. It’s the little things.

Then you step into a spacious living room with three arched windows facing the park that opens up onto terrace, a.k.a. outdoor space #1. Backtracking to the area by the door, a staircase takes you up to the den… but wait, let’s keep walking north through the apartment’s massive restaurant-style kitchen, which includes a giant warming rack above an island, dual wine fridges that can hold 108 bottles at a time, a grand total of four Miele ovens, and grow lights for your herbs (“This is the most impressive thing in the apartment,” someone breathed).

 

Live Near A Clinton At The Whitman’s Bonkers $25M Penthouse – Hangover Observations – Curbed NY.

Home Prices Rise in China | Waccabuc Real Estate

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China’s housing-price growth accelerated in July, especially in larger cities, as liquidity conditions improved after a short-lived credit crunch in June.

 

Prices of homes included in a survey of 100 Chinese cities were up 7.9% from a year earlier, after a 7.4% gain in June, data provider China Real Estate Index System said late Wednesday. Month-on-month price rises quickened to 0.87% from June’s 0.77% gain.

 

Consumer expectations that Beijing would hold off on further property curbs amid a slowing economy contributed to the acceleration in month-on-month price gains, particularly in larger cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou, CREIS said.

 

Despite a government campaign to keep prices from spiraling higher, prices rose for the eighth month in a row compared with a year earlier and for the 14th consecutive month compared with the previous month. China’s central government has kept tightening measures—including curbs on multiple home purchases and restrictions on credit to buyers and developers alike—in place since 2010 in a bid to head off resentment and possible social unrest due to a lack of affordable housing.

 

Still, fewer of the smaller cities posted price gains during the month, a likely result of overbuilding in some areas. Of the cities covered in the survey, 61 showed higher month-over-month prices, compared with 71 cities in June.

 

“This shows that the housing-price gap [has widened] further between major and smaller cities,” said Jinsong Du, an analyst at Credit Suisse. “This should continue to prevent the central government from implementing nationwide housing measures in the near term.”

 

Housing transactions picked up significantly toward the end of July, and this is likely to expand further in August and September, Mr. Du said, citing conversations with property developers.

 

CREIS said the average price of residential housing climbed to 10,347 yuan ($1,688) a square meter during the month, up from 10,258 yuan in June.

 

Quanzhou in southern China’s Fujian province had the fastest month-over-month rise, posting a gain of 4.5%. In Beijing and Guangzhou, home prices rose 2.5% and 2.1%, respectively.

 

In a separate index, new-home prices of 288 cities tracked by real-estate-services provider E-House China showed a rise of 0.84% in July from June, up from June’s 0.40%. On a year-over-year basis, new-home prices in July rose 11.4%, up from June’s 4.2%, according to this survey.

 

The higher housing prices also came alongside gains in land prices, which are seen as contributing to future housing costs. Data from the Ministry of Land and Resources showed the average price of residential land from 105 cities surveyed was 4,799 yuan a square meter in the second quarter this year, up 2.1% from the previous quarter.

 

The price gains shown in these two housing surveys appear to be tolerable for the government, and the policy environment for the property sector will continue to be benign in the coming months, analysts said. They noted that the latest statement by the Communist Party’s powerful Politburo hinted that policy makers may take a more accommodative stance toward the property market in the months ahead.

 

 

Home Prices Rise in China – WSJ.com.