Daily Archives: December 17, 2015

Appreciating Homes Increased in Third Quarter | Katonah Real Estate

The number of homes nationwide gaining value on a monthly basis increased during the third quarter from 56.80 percent in July to 59.37 percent of all homes in September and the appreciation rate increased for the third straight month. However, the percentage of homes gaining value still trails the rate of 66.31 percent in September 2014, Allan Weiss, CEO of Weiss Analytics, reported

As more homes moved out of price stagnation (with annual value change within plus 1.5% to -1.5% per year) houses both appreciating and decreasing both increased.  The percentage of homes losing value rose during the quarter, from 23.40 percent in July to 26.37 percent in September.

Unlike reports based on listings or sales prices that cover only the 3 to 4 percent of homes that are sold every year, Weiss Analytics tracks actual values for all homes, using repeat sales indexes for nearly 45 million individual properties.  The Weiss index database makes it possible to provide highly accurate value trends for specific addresses and measure trends in change values on a hyper local level.  Weiss home value forecasts are widely used to determine owners’ equity, help home buyers make decisions and provide accurate forecasts of future value for lenders and investors.

“It’s too soon to know if the gain over the past three months will become a significant trend.  We are still seven points below the appreciation rate last year and the gap in depreciating homes has grown to more than 12 points—a cause for concern in many markets.  Moreover, trends in appreciation are reflecting significant regional differences.  Hotter markets in the West and Pacific States reflect rising prices and impact affordability in some markets.  Levels of appreciation found in markets like Trenton, Worcester and Allentown are falling at double digit rates,” said Allan Weiss, CEO of Weiss Analytics and former CEO of Case Shiller Weiss.

 

National Percentages of Appreciating and Depreciating Homes

September

August

July

September 2014

Total Appreciating

59.37%

59.20%

56.80%

66.31%

Total Depreciating

26.37%

27.00%

23.40%

14.24%

Selected Markets

The selected markets below illustrate the regional nature of appreciation trends today. Markets that enjoyed high rates of participation in rising values like San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles and Denver have seen their participation rates drop dramatically.  Among these markers, only Phoenix has a higher rate than it did a year ago.

 

Metro

September 2014

September 2015

Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

94.9%

85.6%

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

88.3%

80.5%

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

97.5%

78.8%

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

66.5%

72.5%

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

81.3%

67.7%

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

91.0%

66.7%

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

90.2%

58.3%

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

58.2%

53.0%

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

53.2%

48.3%

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

48.3%

47.5%

Top Performing Markets

In September Flint, MI led the nation in percentage of appreciating homes, reaching 100 percent of the properties in the Weiss Analytics database, a 39.3 percent improvement over a year ago.  Second was Reno, NV with 92.9 percent of homes appreciating. Portland was third with 96.3 percent.  Six of the ten markets are Western.

 

MetroSep-14Sep-15Change
Flint, MI

60.7%

100.0%

39.3%

Reno, NV

98.0%

92.9%

-5.0%

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

93.8%

86.3%

-7.5%

Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

94.9%

85.6%

-9.4%

Stockton-Lodi, CA

93.9%

84.8%

-9.1%

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

94.0%

84.4%

-9.6%

Port St. Lucie, FL

94.5%

84.0%

-10.5%

Madison, WI

61.3%

81.3%

19.9%

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

88.3%

80.5%

-7.8%

Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL

91.0%

79.8%

-11.3%

read more…

 

 

Senior Housing Costs Soar | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Households headed by adults age 65 or older devoted a quarter of their 2013 income to housing, which includes spending on mortgage interest, rent, property taxes, maintenance, repairs, homeowners’ and renters’ insurance, and utilities.

Older households are more than three times as likely as younger households to own their homes free and clear (58 versus 17 percent). Yet, the lack of a mortgage doesn’t reduce their housing costs much because they still have to pay property taxes, maintenance, repairs, insurance, and utilities. In fact, those costs combined make up more than half of what older households with mortgages spend on housing.

Housing doesn’t eat up much more of household budgets for older adults than for adults younger than 65, who allocated 21 percent of their 2013 income to housing. What’s surprising, though, is that seniors spend so much on housing even when they aren’t saddled with mortgages.

Older homeowners without mortgages spent 18 percent of their 2013 income on housing, including 8 percent on utilities, 5 percent on property taxes, and 5 percent on maintenance. Older renters spent much more of their income—43 percent—on housing because their incomes, on average, were half as much as homeowners without mortgages. This share is well above the 30 percent cutoff commonly used to identify burdensome housing costs.

2015-12-02_9-20-12

Low-income seniors spend an even larger share of their income on housing. Nearly 7 million adults age 65 or older receive incomes below 125 percent of the federal poverty level, a reliable indicator of inadequate income. They spent a staggering 74 percent of their income on housing in 2013. Those with more income but less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level devoted 41 percent of their income to housing.

 

read more…

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2015/12/even-without-mortgages-senior-housing-costs-soar/

Solid November Housing Report | Bedford Real Estate

Housing starts and permits had double digit positive moves in November as reported by the Census Bureau and HUD. The November starts figures rebounded from a low October level but still managed to exceed half of the monthly levels reported for 2015. Single-family starts were up 7.6% to 768,000, their highest level since January 2008. Every region except the Midwest experienced a rise in single-family starts.
Permits also peaked at their highest level since August 2007 at 1,289,000 which was up 11% from an upwardly revised October. Single-family permits were up modestly but enough to also set an eight year record of 723,000. Single-family permits rose in every region except the South, which was still the second highest of the year.

Single-family Starts (000)
Multifamily starts rose 16.4% offsetting a 25% drop in October to a 405,000 level and very near the average so far this year of 396,000. Multifamily permits jumped to 566,000, a 26.9% rise, well above the year-to-date average of 481,000.

 

read more…

 

http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/12/solid-november-housing-report/

Mortgage rates average 3.97% | Pound Ridge Real Estate

today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing fixed mortgage rates ticking slightly higher for the second week in a row amid the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise short-term interest rates for the first time since 2006.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.97 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending December 17, 2015, up from last week when it averaged 3.95 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.80 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.22 percent with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.19 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.09 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.03 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.95 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.67 percent this week with an average 0.2 point, up from 2.64 percent last week. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.38 percent.

Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for theRegional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

As of January 1, 2016, the PMMS will no longer provide results for the 1-year ARM. Additionally, the regional breakouts will not be provided for the 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages, and the
5/1 Hybrid ARM.

Quote
Attributed to Sean Becketti, chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“As was almost-universally expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve elected this week to raise short-term interest rates for the first time since 2006. We take the Fed at its word that monetary tightening in 2016 will be gradual, and we expect only a modest increase in longer-term rates. Mortgage rates will tick higher but remain at historically low levels in 2016. Home sales will remain strong, but refinance activity should cool somewhat. Novel policy approaches such as quantitative easing injected significant liquidity in the economy over the past seven years. As a result, the Fed is forced to employ some new tools, such as reverse repos, as it tightens monetary policy. We are likely to see some short-term volatility in fixed-income markets as market participants adjust to these new tools.”