Daily Archives: September 24, 2013

Fed shocks market, decides not to taper | Bedford NY Real Estate

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The Federal Open Market Committee decided Wednesday to keep purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at its current pace to foster the ongoing housing recovery and fight unemployment.

In other words, the market was tricked — no tapering just yet — despite numerous predictions of a $10 billion reduction in monthly asset purchases by the Fed.

The FOMC made that conclusion after members met this week and announced that although the housing sector is strengthening, “mortgage rates continues to rise further and fiscal policy is restraining economic growth.”

As a result, the central bank will continue purchasing agency MBS at a pace of $40 billion per month and longer-term Treasury securities at a pace of $45 billion a month. Yields on 10-year Treasurys dipped from a daily high of 2.9% to below 2.8% on the news. Yields on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds also dropped, according to Bloomberg, with spreads between MBS and the 10-year swap winding 6 basis points closer.

“The committee sees the improvement in economic activity and labor market conditions since it began its asset purchase program a year ago as consistent with growing underlying strength in the broader economy,” FOMC members said.

They added, “However, the committee decided to await more evidence that progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its purchases.”

The vote for the statement was 11 to 1 with Esther George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City dissenting because she was concerned that the continued high level of bond-buying program increased future economic risks.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26914-fed-halts-qe-wind-down

 

 

Considering or Dreaming About Buying a Home? How to Pick the Best Mortgage Rate for You | Pound Ridge Homes

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Even though the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was just 2.5 percent last year, the lowest in recorded history, and three-quarters of a percentage point below the 30-year fixed-rate loan, more than 85 percent of the home loan market was dominated by 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been popular particularly in recent times after the housing bubble and crash, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors.

Yun said consumers want certainty, and by getting a 30-year fixed rate mortgage while they are in their homes is protection against the uncertainty of other economic factors.

As for the second reason, stability, a fixed interest rate over 30 years also means a monthly principal and interest payment that is predictable to homeowners.

“Moreover, by avoiding payment shock and negative amortization, fixed-rate borrowers are less likely to fall behind on their payments, – a plus for investors too,” Nothaft writes.

Why not a longer period than 30 years?

Yun says institutions and homeowners rely on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for both tradition and history.

Also, “People view more than 30 years as lifetime of payments,” Yun said. “Thirty years offers a term limit to say,  ‘At a certain point in my life, I will not have to pay a mortgage.’ I think that assurance is comforting.”

Yun adds that given the mortgage’s standardization and popularity, it makes it easy for Wall Street, or Fannie and Freddie to guarantee those mortgages.

Nothaft said 30-year fixed-rate loan is flexible because it is generally prepayable at any time without penalty.

If homebuyers choose to pay off the loan before maturity, in the case of refinancing or selling the home, for example, they can do so without paying an early prepayment fee, Nothaft said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/

Gorgeous Sagaponack Six-Bedroom is Yours for $10.95M | North Salem Real Estate

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This house really is beautiful. We love all the white, which contrasts beautifully with the piano-finish floors (hopefully the new owners will have staff with Swiffers on standby). The kitchen and bathrooms are faultless, the pool and landscaping are perfection. There’s 1.6 acres in a great location, and six bedrooms and 7.5 baths inside. As for the artwork, we’re on record in favor of Damien Hirst dot paintings, but the Beatles? Unless you were actually in the Beatles (and that guy lives in Amagansett, not Sagaponack), come on. Also, photographers gotta be more careful with the wide-angle lenses. Yes, they can make the rooms look bigger, but they can also give a funhouse-mirror effect that’s offputting. Again, minor complaints in a stunning house. · Sagaponack Sanctuary With Style [Saunders]

 

 

 

US Real Estate Market Activity Slows | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Homebuyer traffic slowed in August, according to the latest survey from Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance.

The survey found that all three groups of homebuyers — current  homeowners, investors and first-time homebuyers — pulled back from the  housing market, a sign that future sales activity might weaken.

The sharpest falloff in the HousingPulse homebuyer traffic index  was seen among current homeowners, the largest group of homebuyers.

This makes sense as current homeowners are less likely to trade  up if interest rates rise and home prices no longer look attractive.

But the urgency for first-time homebuyers also appears to have reduced, according to the survey.

Traffic has slowed down for current homeowners and first-time  homebuyers. Investors scored below 50 in the Homebuyer Traffic Index; a  reading below 50 indicates that traffic is below what is considered a  “flat” level, but that figure remains relatively high.

Investor traffic is likely on the decline because there aren’t enough distressed properties on sale.

The HousingPulse Distressed Property Index, a measure of  distressed properties as a share of total home purchase transactions,  fell to 25.4% in August, based on the three-month moving average.

That was not only down from a distressed property share of 35.8%  seen as recently as last March, but also the lowest level ever recorded  by the HousingPulse survey.

The slowdown in traffic could be seasonal as summer draws to a  close but brokers and homebuilders have reported increased buyer  hesitancy.

Home price gains have started to moderate and new-home sales  plunged in July, but existing home sales are still strong. The sales  data doesn’t yet reflect the impact of rising rates because many buyers  rushed to lock in interest rates before they rose further.

The impact of interest rates on sales could be more pronounced in the coming months, however.

Still, it is too early to call an end to the recovery in housing.  Home prices have been lifted off their bottom and the market has  stabilized. There is pent-up demand and a further increase in inventory  and a moderation in prices also could encourage more buyers back into  the market.

A separate survey released  Monday by Bankrate.com showed that 55% of Americans believe home prices  will go up in the next 12 months, while 9% forecast a decline. In  upper-income households, 65% predicted a rise, while 6% forecast a  decline.

 

 

http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/

 

 

 

Case-Shiller: Home Prices Gain in July at Slower Pace | Chappaqua Homes

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U.S. home prices rose 12.4 percent in July compared with a year ago, the most since February 2006. An increase in sales on a limited supply of available homes drove the gains.

The Standard &Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index reported Tuesday improved from June, when it rose 12.1 percent from a year ago. And all 20 cities posted gains in July from the previous month and compared with a year ago.

Still, the month-over-month price gains shrank in 15 cities in July compared with the previous month, indicating prices may be peaking. And the month-over-month gains in the 20-city price index have slowed for three straight months.

Stan Humphries, chief economist for real estate data provider Zillow, said home price should continue to rise but at a slower pace. Mortgage rates have increased more than a full percentage point since May. And more homes are being built. That should ease supply constraints that have inflated prices in some markets.

“This ongoing moderation is good for the market overall,” Humphries said.

Home prices soared 27.5 percent in Las Vegas from a year earlier, the largest gain. San Francisco’s 24.8 percent jump was the second largest and the biggest yearly return for that city since March 2001.

The index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The July figures are the latest available. They are not adjusted for seasonal variations, so the monthly gains reflect more buying activity over the summer.

Since bottoming out in March 2012, home prices have rebounded about 21 percent. They remain about 22 percent below the peak reached in July 2006.

The housing market has been recovering over the past year, helped by steady job growth, low mortgage rates and relatively low prices.

 

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/09/24/

 

Home-price growth slowing, Case-Shiller says | Armonk Homes

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Home prices rose 1.8% in July, down from 2.2% in June, according to the Case-Shiller report. After seasonal adjustments, prices were up 0.6% in July, the lowest gain since September.

It looks like higher mortgage rates are hitting the housing market, said David Blitzer, index committee chairman at S&P Dow Jones Indices. Among the 20 cities tracked by S&P/Case-Shiller, 15 saw slower monthly price growth in July. Elsewhere Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, reported that home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1% in July, and were up 8.8% from the year-earlier period.

Mortgage rates started rising in early May on speculation that the Federal Reserve could start cutting its large-scale asset purchases that have helped keep home loans relatively cheap. The Fed announced last week that it is not going to start tapering these purchases yet, but that news is likely to have only a temporary impact on housing, Blitzer said.

“The rate of increase may have peaked,” he said.

A low number of homes for sale coupled with lots of pent-up demand from buyers have led to upward pressure on prices. Indeed, on a year-over-year basis, home prices grew 12.4% in July, the fastest annual pace since 2006. Still, home prices in July were about 21% below a 2006 peak.

“The latest rise in the annual rate of house price inflation in July may be the most eye-catching part of today’s Case-Shiller house price report. But the real story is a welcome slowdown in the underlying rate of house price gains in recent months,” Capital Economics analysts wrote in a research note.

According to details of the Case-Shiller report, Las Vegas saw the largest annual home-price growth in July at 28%, followed by San Francisco at 25%. New York had the lowest annual home-price growth at 3.5%.

Looking broadly at the housing market, recent reports have indicated that the rebound is slowing. Unemployment remains high and many can’t afford to establish their own household, meaning that pent-up demand may take a long time to translate into actual purchases. First-time buyers are having a particularly tough time, and make up a small share of existing-home sales.

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story

 

Another 8.3 Million Underwater Homeowners on Track to Resurface Before 2015 | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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While 10.7 million residential homeowners nationwide owe at least 25 percent or more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, another 8.3 million homeowners are either slightly underwater or slightly above water, putting them on track to have enough equity to sell sometime in the next 15 months — without resorting to a short sale.

The 8.3 million include homeowners with a loan to value (LTV) ratio from 90 to 110 percent, meaning they have between 10 percent positive equity and 10 percent negative equity. These homeowners represented 18 percent of all U.S. homeowners with a mortgage as of the beginning of September.

The 10.7 million residential properties with an LTV ratio of at least 125 percent represented 23 percent of U.S. residential properties with a mortgage — down from 11.3 million deeply underwater properties representing 26 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage in May 2013 and down from 12.5 million deeply underwater properties representing 28 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage in September 2012.

“Steadily rising home prices are lifting all boats in this housing market and should spill over into more inventory of homes for sale in the coming months,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Homeowners who already have ample equity are quickly building on that equity, while the 8.3 million homeowners on the fence with little or no equity are on track to regain enough equity to sell before 2015 if home prices continue to increase at the rate of 1.33 percent per month that they have since bottoming out in March 2012.”

“In addition, nearly one in four homeowners in foreclosure has at least some equity, giving them a better chance to avoid foreclosure without resorting to a short sale — assuming they realize they have equity and don’t miss the opportunity to leverage that equity,” Blomquist added. “Even homeowners deeply underwater have reason for hope, with about 150,000 each month rising past the 25 percent negative equity milestone — although it will certainly take years rather than months before most of those homeowners have enough equity to sell other than via short sale.”

Other high-level findings from the report:

More than 126,000 properties in the foreclosure process nationwide had an LTV of 100 percent or lower in September, representing 24 percent of all homes in the foreclosure process. States with the highest percentage of foreclosures with equity included Oklahoma (54 percent), Hawaii (51 percent), New York (47 percent), and Texas (46 percent).

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/09/another-83-million-homeowners-on-track-to-resurface-before-2015/

Single-family housing starts jump | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Single-family housing starts rose 7 percent month over month in August to a seasonally adjusted rate of 628,000, and were up 16.9 percent from a year ago, according to a monthly report from the U.S. Census Bureau released today.

 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

 

read more…

 

http://www.inman.com/wire/single-family-housing-starts-jump/#sthash.7MoaTZH2.dpuf

With Upturn, Homes Are More Specialized and Technologically Savvy | South Salem Real Estate

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With the national recovery of the housing market has come a return to larger and more expensive homes. Residential architects are reporting more specialized uses of space and the growing interest in special function rooms. Examples include outdoor living spaces, mud rooms, in-law suites, and safe rooms. With more specialized uses of space has come an increased interest in special features, many of which provide greater accessibility for an aging population. New technologies are also seeing a dramatic increase in popularity, both in new and remodeled homes. Popular new products offer greater energy efficiency and often provide households with fewer maintenance obligations.

These are some of the key findings from the AIA’s Home Design Trends Survey from the second quarter of 2013. Business conditions have been steadily trending up since early 2012, and—given the strong levels of inquiries for new projects, the growing levels of project backlogs, and the uniformly strong readings from firms across all regions of the country—workloads for residential architects promise to remain strong in the quarters ahead. During the past year, residential architects have reported a recovery in virtually every residential construction sector. Coupled with already strong readings in home improvement activity, there now is a very strong base for future improvement in market conditions.

Special function rooms rebound in popularity

As home sizes shrank during the housing downturn, special function rooms were particularly hard hit. Many households view special function rooms as discretionary, and therefore easier to eliminate as homes were downsized. Now that average home sizes are growing again, interest in special function rooms is beginning to reemerge.

Rooms that have seen particularly strong growth in popularity over the past year are outdoor living areas and rooms, and mud rooms/drop zones. Almost 63 percent of residential architects surveyed report that interest in outdoor living areas/rooms are increasing, while fewer than 2 percent report interest to be declining. For mud rooms/drop zones, more than 45 percent of respondents report increased interest, while only about 1 percent report a decline. For both of these areas, scores are well up from year-ago levels.

 

 

http://www.aia.org/practicing/AIAB099983

12 Awesome Social Media Facts and Statistics for 2013 | Cross River Realtor

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social media facts and statistics

As the world continues to embrace social media, the ways we use the social  networks are becoming clearer.

Twitter with its short and snappy messaging is very dependent on mobile usage  and smart phones. The rise of the visual web is making Pinterest and Tumblr the  fastest growing social networks on the planet. Facebook is where we share with  friends and family. Google+ is no longer an afterthought and is embedded in  Google’s web assets including Gmail, local checkins and the mobile Android  ecosystems.

Google is getting the data it wants from Google+. Demographics, usage and  content popularity. This is feeding into how it is ranking search results and  much more. The universes of content, social and search are being woven together  and creating a web experience that looks more like magic everyday. The social  and mobile web is becoming an extension of our lives as we share, search and  upload photos.

Artificial intelligence that adds other dimensions to humanity has already  arrived but we just don’t notice it. We take it for granted

So what are the latest social media facts and statistics provided by the  latest study by GlobalWebIndex for the second quarter of 2013?

#1. Google+ is catching up to Facebook

Facebook still dominates at 70% of account ownership but Google+ is not far  behind at just over 50%. Keep in mind though that Google+ account is mandatory  whenever you create a new  Gmail account. This is pushing up the account  ownership stats. No other social network has Google’s web assets leverage.

The large Chinese internet user population is producing some large Chinese  centric social networks including Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo and Qzone. So  Facebook doesn’t just have Google+ breathing down its neck. The rise of China’s  social networks will possibly be a threat in the future.

Social media facts figures and statistics 2013 1

#2. Facebook active usage still dominates

Facebook has nearly 50% of all the world’s internet users as active users.  This is only set to increase as regions and countries in the developing world  including Africa, Asia and South America get connected to the web.

Social media facts figures and statistics 2013 1

#3. Pinterest is the fastest growing social network

The visual web is driving the rise of Pinterest and Tumblr with growth rates  of 88% and 74% respectively over the last 12 months. Twitter and LinkedIn though  are still rapid risers with growth rates around 40%.

Social media facts figures and statistics 2013 1

#4. LinkedIn is the most popular for older users

LinkedIn is the network of choice for most knowledge workers and  professionals. It is maybe the most conservative of the social networks due to  the fact it is all about business. It is becoming more social as it has realized  that this will enhance its user penetration and attractiveness.

The latest statistics show it having 7% of its users over 55 and 14% in the  45 to 54 age range.

Social media facts figures and statistics 2013 1

#5. Usage of social networks by older users is increasing

Social networks were and still are a hit with the younger demographics. Don’t  think though that social media is for the teens. The increase in usage by the 55  to 64 year olds is greater than 100% for Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

The young aren’t the only ones having fun.

 

 

 

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/09/20/12-awesome-social-media-facts-and-statistics-for-2013/#zcxL7Wyd1SvY5LVq.99