Daily Archives: February 20, 2014

Housing Market Is On ‘Road Back To Normal’ | Katonah NY Homes

As more inventory of for-sale homes helped slow previously high rates of appreciation, from December to January, national home values saw the smallest monthly increase since May 2012, according to the January Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

National home values rose just 0.2% to a Zillow Home Value Index of $169,600.

Nationwide, while inventory remains tight, the number of homes listed for sale on Zillow was up 11.1% annually in January on a seasonally adjusted basis – the fifth straight month of rising year-over-year inventory.

Inventory rose year-over-year in 22 of the nation’s 35 largest metro areas covered by Zillow, with the largest inventory gains coming in some of the areas that were hit hardest by the housing recession, including Las Vegas (up 42.8%); Phoenix (up 30.5%); and Sacramento, Calif. (up 26%).

Those metros also experienced significant cooling in the pace of home value appreciation in January, Zillow notes, as buyers had more homes to choose from and were less apt to engage in the kinds of bidding wars that helped drive prices up so quickly last year.

“Last year, tight inventory contributed to very rapid home value appreciation. Now, more inventory is helping to moderate home value increases in many areas,” comments Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow.

http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.15068

Mortgage Rates around 4.33% this week | Bedford Corners NY Homes

Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS^®), showing average fixed mortgage rates up slightly for the second week in a row.

News Facts

30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.33 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending February 20, 2014, up from last week when it averaged 4.28 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.56 percent.
15-year FRM this week averaged 3.35 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.33 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.77 percent.
5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.08 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.05 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.64 percent.
1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.57 percent this week with an average 0.3 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.55 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.65 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 the Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

Bad weather hammers housing starts, again | Chappaqua NY Homes

Housing starts fell sharply in January for the second straight month as cold and stormy weather continued to batter the recovering housing market.

Starts of single-family houses and apartments fell 16% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 880,000 last month after declining dramatically in December, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Extreme winter weather is largely blamed for both poor showings after starts jumped to their highest level in a year in November.

Starts in December were revised up to an annual rate of 1.05 million from 990,000.

Economists had expected Commerce to report that starts fell to a 950,000 annual rate in January, according to their consensus estimate. Starts rose in the Northeast but declined in the rest of the country.

Applications — a gauge of future housing activity — fell 5.4% in January. Applications for permits to build single-family homes fell 1.3%.

The report follows this week’s release of a closely watched index of home builders’ outlook in February which declined at the fastest-ever pace and indicated that more builders view conditions as poor than good.

In a research note, UBS said the falling measure “suggests inclement weather probably depressed starts further in February.”

Other factors may also be at work, such as rising mortgage rates that have dampened home sales.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/19/housing-starts-january/5587867/