Daily Archives: October 3, 2012

Third Quarter Market: Low Inventory, High Demand | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

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Third Quarter Market: Low Inventory, High Demand

NEW YORK - JULY 28: A home stands for sale on July 28, 2009 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Commerce Department announced July 27, that new-home sales surged in June from the previous month, the third straight increase in a row. Sales of single-family homes increased by 11.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000 compared to the prior month. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Limited inventory continues to be the story of Manhattan’s real estate market, according to third quarter reports released by the city’s top firms. (The surveys almost always differ slightly on their findings, but on this they all agree.) Prudential Douglas Elliman saw the number of available listings plummet by 24.3 percent to 5847 compared to the same period a year ago, the tightest in seven years.

Meanwhile, sales volume jumped 16.6 percent from the same period last year, according to Streeteasy.com. Halstead Property and Brown Harris Stevens also saw the number of closings rise by 12 percent. Prices remained somewhat level — the median price dipped by just 2.3 percent from to $890,000, per Elliman; the average fell just 1.4 percent to $1.44 million.

The good news for homeowners is that the combination of robust demand and tight inventory is a recipe for climbing prices. “This can’t go on forever without any appreciation,” says appraiser Jonathan Miller, who prepared Elliman’s survey. However, if the inventory dilemma gets worse, the market could lose momentum. “You never want too low of a supply, because then [buyers] lose interest,” says Halstead Property president Diane Ramirez.

Other findings of note:

• Upper Manhattan, which includes Washington Heights and Inwood, is gaining fans. The number of apartments going into contract in the area jumped 70.8 percent to 234, according to Streeteasy.com. The average-price-per-square-foot for condos increased by 16 percent.

• Though we’ve been hearings lots about larger, more expensive properties hitting the market lately — indeed, Olshan Realty found eleven contracts signed last month for apartments priced $4 million and up, making it a stellar September — it’s the bread-and-butter segment that continues to dominate the market. Sales of one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms accounted for 71 percent of transactions, per the Corcoran Group’s survey.

• Properties are selling faster, too: Streeteasy’s research shows the average time on market falling from 141 days last year to 128 days this year.

via nymag.com

States That Lost the Most are Gaining the Most | Armonk NY Homes

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States that suffered the greatest number of foreclosures, until recently largely hotbeds for discounted foreclosures and short sales, are leading the nation in price gains.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 4.6 percent in August 2012 compared to August 2011, the biggest year-over-year increase since July 2006, according to CoreLogic’s Home Price Index. The August 2012 figures mark the sixth consecutive increase in home prices nationally on both a year-over-year and month-over-month basis. The HPI analysis from CoreLogic shows that all but six states are experiencing price gains.

Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationwide increased on a year-over-year basis by 4.9 percent in August 2012 compared to August 2011. On a month-over-month basis excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1 percent in August 2012 compared to July 2012, also the sixth consecutive month-over-month increase. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

States that lost the most value during the decline from April 2006 to August 2012 were Nevada (-54.7 percent), Florida (-44.3 percent), Arizona (-42.0 percent), California (-37.7 percent) and Michigan (-36.5 percent). Among the top states with the highest home price appreciation are: Arizona (+18.2 percent), Nevada (+9.0 percent), Florida (6.9 percent) and California (5.5 percent).

CoreLogic forecast that September 2012 home prices, including distressed sales, are expected to rise by 5 percent on a year-over-year basis from September 2011 and fall by 0.3 percent on a month-over-month basis from August 2012 as the summer buying season closes out. Excluding distressed sales, September 2012 house prices are poised to rise 6.3 percent year-over-year from September 2011 and by 0.6 percent month-over-month from August 2012. The CoreLogic Pending Home Price Index is based on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data that measure price changes in the most recent month.

“Again this month prices rose on a year-over-year basis and our expectation is for that to continue in September based on our pending HPI forecast,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The housing markets gains are increasingly geographically diverse with only six states continuing to show declining prices.”

via realestateeconomywatch.com