Existing home sales collapsed 4.9% in January to their lowest rate in nine months, falling well below analyst expectations, led by a massive drop in western region, according to the National Association of Realtors.
All major regions experienced declines in January, with the Northeast and West seeing the largest.
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, fell 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million in January from an upwardly-revised 5.07 million in December.
“January’s drop in existing home sales is a bit concerning,” said Bill Banfield, vice president at Quicken Loans. “Economic indicators and stubbornly-low interest rates would lead most to expect improvement, yet recent housing reports have indicated the opposite. Inventory is a number I’ll be watching in the coming months as it has the power to help existing sales bounce back.”
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the housing market got off to a somewhat disappointing start to begin the year with January closings down throughout the country.
“January housing data can be volatile because of seasonal influences, but low housing supply and the ongoing rise in home prices above the pace of inflation appeared to slow sales despite interest rates remaining near historic lows,” he said. “Realtors are reporting that low rates are attracting potential buyers, but the lack of new and affordable listings is leading some to delay decisions.”
Total housing inventory at the end of January increased 0.5% to 1.87 million existing homes available for sale, but is 0.5% lower than a year ago. Unsold inventory is at a 4.7-month supply at the current sales pace – up from 4.4 months in December.
The slowdown in mortgage purchase applicationsis alsoweighing on analysts. Mortgage purchase apps have faltered, and that limits upside risk for mortgage rates, according to the analyst team lead by Chris Flanagan atBank of America/Merrill Lynch.
The housing market didn’t get off to a great start in 2015, as existing-home sales in January fell to the lowest level in nine months.
The National Association of Realtors reported that home sales fell 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 4.95 million rate.
December’s data saw a mild upward revision to 5.07 million from an initially reported 5.04 million.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR, attributed the decline to a lack of housing supply and rising prices.
The median existing-home price was $199,600, which is 6.2% above January 2014 levels. Inventory edged up 0.5% to 1.87 million homes, or a 4.7 month supply at the current sales price.
Yun added that low mortgage rates are generating interest, but the lack of new and affordable listings is delaying decisions.
Other factoids from the January report:
• All-cash sales were 27% of all transactions, up from 26% in December but down from 33% in January 2014.
• Distressed sales were 11% of all sales, unchanged from December.
• Properties typically stayed on the market slightly longer in January (69 days) than December (66 days) and a year ago (67 days).
• The share of first-time buyers declined to 28% in January, the lowest since June.
“Today a somewhat softer-than-expected report is a further sign that housing is still struggling to gain altitude although we expect further signs of recovery in the next two to three years as the improving job market encourages more first-time buyers,” said Peter Buchanan, an economist at CIBC World Markets.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Household Debt and Credit Report, total household debt outstanding rose by $306 billion, 2.7%, between the fourth quarter of 2013 and the fourth quarter of 2014.
At the end of 2014 there was $11.8 trillion in house debt outstanding. By virtue of its size, the increase in mortgage debt outstanding over the year, $121 billion, accounted for much of the increase in total household credit outstanding. Auto loans, $92 billion, student loans, $77 billion, credit cards, $17 billion, and other consumer debt, $18 billion, also contributed to increase in total household debt outstanding over the 2014. The outstanding amount of home equity lines of credit fell by $19 billion. However, in year-over-year percentage growth terms, auto loans, 10.7%, and student loans, 7.1%, led the way. Outstanding credit card debt rose by 2.5% and mortgage debt increased by 1.5%. The amount of home equity lines of credit outstanding fell by 3.6%.
Although the year-over-year growth in mortgage credit outstanding, 1.5%, was below the 2.7% growth in total household debt outstanding, it represents acceleration from the rate of growth recorded over the year of 2013. As Figure 1 below illustrates, following four successive years of declines, 2014 marks the second consecutive year of growth. The rate of growth in 2014 was 1.3 percentage points greater than the rate recorded in 2013 and is similar to the rate recorded in 2008, the last year that mortgage debt outstanding registered annual growth.
Despite the presence of some risks, mortgage debt outstanding should expand further in 2015. Part of the reason that mortgage debt outstanding should rise in 2015 is because the serious mortgage delinquency rate is returning to its pre-recession level. At the same time, mortgage originators expect their mortgage business to grow. According to Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey, and as illustrated in Figure 2 below, 88% of respondents expect to grow their mortgage origination volume going forward, while 12% expect to maintain their mortgage origination volume. No respondent expects to either downsize their mortgage origination volume or exit the mortgage origination industry.
The latest menace dealt by New England’s historic snowbound winter — the creak, crack and boom of collapsing roofs — may get worse as the region heads into a weekend forecast of rain.
Rooftops, especially flat ones, have buckled under the weight of snow from Rhode Island northward to Maine, and companies like Ottawa eavestrough repair have been working hard to restore the damaged roofs. In Massachusetts, 106 roofs have caved in the last two weeks, all of them needing a new roof replacement. Two partial roof collapses in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, displaced as many as 700 residents in an apartment complex.
There have been no reports of death or serious injury in the structural failures. That could change with Boston’s next round of foul weather, which will start Saturday. Unlike every system since Jan. 27, it will switch to all rain through the overnight hours, said Alan Dunham, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts. Most legal proceedings can only be filed within a certain window of time. This is called the statute of limitations. If you do not file your case in time, you will not have your day in court even if your case is valid. The statute of limitations on negligence cases varies from state to state. This is another reason to make sure you have a quality medical malpractice attorney. They will know exactly how much time they have to complete the necessary paperwork to ensure your case is heard. Here read more information about the Queens Personal Injury Attorneys. In order to protect doctors and insurance providers, there has been a cap put on the amount of money that can be recovered from these cases. Similar to the statute of limitations, this amount varies from state to state. If you win your case, the amount will be more than sufficient in covering the bills you incurred as a result of the negligence. A medical malpractice attorney will ensure that you recover as much monetary compensation as you possibly can for your ordeal.
A medical malpractice attorney can help a client who has had a doctor who has committed professional negligence, by either act or omission, which then makes the treatment or procedure turn out to be worse than the accepted standard within the medical community. A medical malpractice attorney can also help a family who has had a family member die or be injured by a doctor who has committed professional negligence. Each country has its own regulations and standards that define professional negligence. Sometimes doctors and other medical professionals obtain professional liability insurance to help defray the risk and also the costs of a lawsuit based on their errors.
“The snow will basically just absorb all the rain,” Dunham said. “All that snow sitting on roofs will be even heavier and it will exacerbate an already large problem.”
Roof collapses in Massachusetts include a commercial plaza, daycare center and lumber retailer, according to the state’s emergency management agency, MEMA. They will all need roof repair as soon as possible.
Barn Roof
In Newington, New Hampshire, about 100 employees face a temporary layoff after a roof collapse on a warehouse at Georgia-Pacific.
A barn roof gave way in Berwick, Maine, as did part of a roof over a manufacturing facility in Rockland, the coastal Maine community known for its annual lobster festival.
In the Boston area, which has been smothered by more than eight feet of snow this season, companies that shovel off roofs and break up ice dams are so busy that many aren’t returning new calls for help. Fortunately, there is an Affordable Roofing Contractor knoxville TN who can help you with fixing your roof and removing the snow from your roof.
As of Thursday afternoon, Boston had received 98.7 inches (about 250 centimeters) at Logan International Airport, making the current winter the snowiest on record behind 1995-1996, when 107.6 inches fell.
Whether Saturday’s storm system brings snow, rain or a mix, it will add weight, said Chris Besse, a MEMA spokesman.
“That’s why we’re encouraging people to get out there and check their roofs,” he said in a telephone interview and added the service from https://bellroofcompany.com/roofing-loma-linda/ for any roofing system.
Red Flags
Signs of impending collapse can include sagging roofs, leaks inside the house and cracked or split wood in the structural makeup of the dwelling, MEMA said on its website. Sprinkler heads that drop down from ceiling tiles, doors that pop open and doors or windows that are difficult to open can also be red flags. Visit Website if you are looking for a reliable roofing services to ease the load of working on a strong roof.
To ease the roof’s load, the state recommends a snow rake – – if you can find one for sale. Start from the edge and work inward, shaving the piles down to two or three inches. Scraping the roof clean will risk damage to shingles and other roofing material, MEMA advises.
The legendary architect and his companion, the curator David Whitney, spent their weekends in the world’s most famous transparent box. Or did they?
Photo
Philip Johnson, left, with his partner, the art curator and collector David Whitney, photographed by Mariana Cook on the Glass House property in 1995.Credit
WHEN PHILIP JOHNSON’S Glass House in New Canaan, Conn., was featured in Life magazine soon after its completion in 1949, architects and designers downed martinis at the Oyster Bar, pondering the future of the International Style. But that probably wasn’t what most people were thinking about as they looked at the pictures. They likely leaned back in their Barcaloungers and wondered: How could he actually live in a clear box, without walls, without privacy, without any stuff?
The answer was that despite our indelible impression of Johnson, the owlish man in the dapper suit and those spectacles, spending his incredibly long life (he died at age 98 in 2005) in the 1,800-square-foot transparent rectangle, silhouetted against a backdrop of greenery that he called “expensive wallpaper,” he never really did live in the Glass House. At least not in the self-contained sense in which the rest of us occupy our homes.
PLAY VIDEO3:12
T’s design editor Tom Delavan tours the 49-acre estate with Henry Urbach, the house’s director.
Instead, the Glass House was merely the focal point of what eventually grew to be a veritable architectural theme park on 49 meticulously tended acres, comprising 14 structures, in which Johnson and David Whitney, the collector and curator who met him in 1960 and became his life partner, and who died just months after Johnson, enjoyed their impossibly glamorous weekend existence.
From the bunkerlike Brick House where Johnson often slept and the tiny, turreted, postmodern Library where he worked surrounded by architecture books, to Calluna Farms, the 1905 shingled farmhouse and the subterranean art gallery,also you can see here the art gallery collection. the collection of buildings formed Johnson’s idea of the perfect deconstructed home. When the Glass House compound, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site, reopens for tours in May after its usual winter break, the public will for the first time be able to visit two additional structures of the 14 — Calluna Farms and Grainger, the cozy 18th-century timber-frame house the couple used as a TV room — at last offering a more nuanced picture of what life really was like behind glass.
Philip Johnson’s “Glass House” refers ambiguously both to his iconic residence in New Canaan, Conn., and to the 49-acre property which comprised eight other buildings, including this house, called Grainger, which was used as a sitting room.Dean Kaufman
The world-famous Glass House, completed in 1949, was not the couple’s sole residence on the property. Dean Kaufman
The Sculpture Gallery, built in 1970, holds works from the likes of Frank Stella and Robert Morris. Dean Kaufman
The postmodern one-room Library, built in 1980, where Johnson often worked. Dean Kaufman
The Gehryesque Da Monsta gatehouse, completed in 1995. Dean Kaufman
The interior of Grainger, the 18th-century farmhouse used mostly for watching TV. Dean Kaufman
The entrance to the subterranean Painting Gallery. Dean Kaufman
Calluna Farms, the shingle-style farmhouse purchased by Johnson in 1981 to serve as Whitney’s residence. Dean Kaufman
The interior of Calluna Farms with its lace curtains and chairs designed by Prouvé, Le Corbusier and Thonet. Dean Kaufman
The bedroom in the Brick House, designed by Johnson in 1953, features vaulted ceilings, Fortuny-covered walls and a hand-woven carpet. Dean Kaufman
The Lincoln Kirstein Tower, a 30-foot folly on the property that Johnson used to climb. Dean Kaufman
A window by the artist Michael Heizer at the back of Grainger, facing the peony and iris garden. Dean Kaufman
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IN THE BEGINNING, there were two: the Glass House and the Brick House, both about 50 feet long and finished within months of each other in 1949 on a five-acre plot, with a 90-foot-wide grassy court separating them. History has downplayed the Brick House — from the outside it’s plain and it doesn’t fit well with the people-in-glass-houses narrative — but Johnson always knew it would be impossible to live entirely in the open, so he built a place to get some privacy.
The rest of the buildings came naturally, if gradually. The idea of having a slew of small houses for different activities, moods and seasons, complemented by decorative “follies,” was Johnson’s conception for the site from early on. He called it a “diary of an eccentric architect,” but it was also a sketchbook, an homage to architects past and present, and to friends like the dance impresario Lincoln Kirstein, after whom Johnson named one of the follies he built on the property, a 30-foot-high tower made of painted concrete blocks.
In contrast to their whirlwind weekday world in Manhattan, Johnson and Whitney saw life in New Canaan as perpetual camping, albeit of a luxurious, minimalist sort. Neither Grainger nor the 380-square-foot Library has a bathroom, though both are air-conditioned, unlike the Glass House, which relies on cross ventilation. It originally had heating pipes in the ceiling and the floor, but the ceiling pipes reportedly froze early on and were never adequately repaired. To compensate, on particularly cold winter days the temperature of the water flowing through the radiant heated floors was turned up to nearly 200 degrees. “You couldn’t go in there with bare feet,” Port Draper, the contractor who maintained the house for many years, recalled in The Times in 2007. Johnson was unbothered by the house’s leaks, a problem endemic to a flat roof. Frank Lloyd Wright once referred to one of his houses as a “two-bucket house,” according to Robert A. M. Stern, to which Johnson gaily replied, “Oh, that’s nothing, Frank. Mine’s a four-bucket house. One in each corner.”
While the Glass House was designed with areas for dining, living and sleeping, loosely divided by low cabinetry and a brick cylinder holding the chimney and bathroom, it functioned more as a living space, an occasional office for Johnson and a place to throw parties (lots of them, attended in the early years by a coterie of young Yale architecture students, and later by the likes of Richard Meier, Frank Gehry, Fran Lebowitz and Agnes Gund). The house was astonishingly tchotchke-free. “I don’t think clutter was allowed,” the painter Jasper Johns, a friend of both men, once said. “One was always aware of their ruthless elegance.”
In the past few weeks, the Sunnyside Yards has received an inordinate amount of attention from politicians and press, after being referenced as a possible development site for future megaprojects. Described as “a giant bowl of spaghetti,” this vast Queens train yard was included as one of the central proposals in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s State of the City address, where he called for a platform to be built over the yards holding 11,250 new affordable apartments. Not to be outdone, Governor Cuomo soon responded by giving support to a different proposal for a new convention center above the tracks. Based on their enthusiasm for these projects, it remains doubtful that either politician has personally explored the entire complicated reality of this 180-acre rail yard.
A circumnavigation of the Sunnyside Yards on foot reveals how huge and complex any plan to build above it would be. Almost two miles long, the perimeter of the yard is surrounded by elaborate fences and intersected by numerous bridges, but its day-to-day operations are largely hidden from public view. What few vantage points there are show a multi-layered system where LIRR, NJ Transit, Amtrak and MTA trains wind and weave above and below ground, enmeshed in a web of power lines and ancillary tracks. Meanwhile, an equally diverse array of neighborhoods borders the edges of the yard, ranging from the post-industrial side streets of Long Island City to the still-industrial warehouses of Sunnyside and the charming residences of the Sunnyside Gardens Historic District.
Walking through this convoluted landscape, it becomes clear that any local pressure to develop on top of the Sunnyside Yards is largely coming from its northwest boundary, where the creeping tide of luxury towers has swept aside industry in Long Island City and reached the very edges of the tracks. In the narrow strip of land between Jackson Avenue and the yards, cranes and construction dominate the skyline, as century-old warehouses are demolished to make way for new residential behemoths. West Chemical and 5 Pointz have now been completely destroyed, Eagle Electric is being gutted and renovated, and several new glass boxes now loom over the yards. The potential creation of up to 28 million square feet of “new” land in the backyard of these projects would doubtlessly benefit some developers enormously.
Global real estate investor Barry Sternlicht told CNBC on Thursday that he disagrees with Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller, who predicted a day earlier that the U.S. residential housing market looks topped out.
Housing is a major asset class that’s “actually trailing asset bubbles,” said Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of the $42 billion-plus investment firm Starwood Capital Group. “It’s cheaper to buy a house and finance it, than it is to rent in many markets.”
In a “Squawk Box” interview Wednesday, Shiller, co-founder of the Case-Shiller housing index, said he “won’t bet” on the increase in home prices since 2012 continuing.
“Home prices are … at about the right level based on history. So maybe they won’t go anywhere in the near future,” the Yale professor warned.
A day later on the program, Sternlicht expressed optimism about buying homes as an investment. “The housing sector is going to be a major asset class in this country.”
The Starwood Capital chief did acknowledge that Americans are “a little nervous about taking mortgages.” He blames that, in part, on the gridlock in Washington, D.C., in solving the country’s debt problems and reforming entitlements.
But Sternlicht said the collapse in oil that’s led to cheaper gasoline would help consumers feel more confident. “You’re going to see things like lodging doing better this summer. People will be driving more.” He also predicted the impact of less expensive prices at the gas pump would eventually translate into better retail sales.
On the investor side of the equation, he’s concerned about the easy money policies being pursued around the world.
“Smart investors are really nervous,” Sternlicht said. “It seems to me, there’s a big dike [on] the world’s economies, and the politicians and the [central] banks are plugging all these holes, but it’s getting harder and harder to hold these holes.”
Mamaroneck: Seasonal Chef Maria Reina Cooks Up Meal Inspiration from 11am-1pm + Shovel Ready String Band Entertains from 10am-Noon Simple Eats with Chef T Debuts + MoreOssining: Enjoy Celtic Fiddle Tunes with Brian Vegh + Local Author, Denise Martin, Shares A Taste Back in Time Kontoulis Family Olive Oil Joins Market for 1st time in 2015 + More! February 19-25th, 2015 DowntoEarthMarkets.com
What’s New, In Season, and On Sale This Week
Arugula Pesto Made with arugula from Gajeski Produceand Kontoulis Family Olive Oil Trotta Foods
Click on a market to see all vendor and event details…Ossining Winter Saturdays 9:00 am-1:00 pm
Claremont Elementary School Van Cortlandt Avenue, off of N. Highland (Rte. 9)
Tune in Tonight 2/19: Miriam Haas & Jon Zeltsman on The Local Live: Food for ThoughtDown to Earth Markets Founder, Miriam Haas, and President, Jon Zeltsman, look forward to joining a discussion tonight on the Local Live: Food for Thought, a production by Larchmont Community Television. Along with nutritionist, Elyssa Hurlbut, the group will talk about the state of local food today, including what “organic” truly means, GMO foods, and the role of big business in food production. The program begins at 7:30 pm – find all the details HERE!
Mamaroneck: Music + Cooking Demo + Meet & Greet with The Journal News
The Shovel Ready String Band will play the market this Saturday from 10 am to noon! Enjoy their jugband & bluegrass musical style as you shop for delicious market foods. Speaking of deliciousness, Seasonal Chef Maria Reina, will host a cooking demo from 11 am to 1 pm. She’s well-known for her recipes in the Small Bites column of The Journal News, and we look forward to her creative cooking at the market. Staff members from The Journal News will be on hand, too, as part of our Community Table program. Stop by and learn about the publication’s latest developments.
Ossining: Celtic Fiddle Songs & Local Author Book Signing
Celtic violinist, Brian Vegh, will share his musical talents with the Ossining market this Saturday from 10 am to noon. Also, stop by the market Community Table and meet author, Denise Martin. Denise grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson and now lives in Ossining. She’ll sell and sign copies of her book, A Taste Back in Time. It celebrates the traditions of her large Italian family and contains over 50 classic Italian recipes, as well as heart-warming stories of people and places in Westchester County. Denise will also give out free printed copies of two beloved family recipes featured in her book.
Ossining: Please Order Tierra Farm Nut Products with Market Manager, Samantha
Down to Earth Markets is happy to partner with Claremont Elementary School to hold the Ossining Indoor Winter Farmers Market. In an effort to meet the needs of the school community, Tierra Farm will no longer be a vendor at the indoor market. For customers interested in purchasing Tierra Farm products, there will be weekly order forms available at the market. Please submit your Tierra Farm order form to the market manager, Samantha, during market hours, 9 am to 1 pm. During the week, you can pick up your Tierra Farm order at Down to Earth’s office on Main Street in Ossining. We look forward to seeing you!
Tierra Farm will return on Saturday, April 4th, when the market moves back outside to its longtime home at the corner of Spring and Main Streets in downtown Ossining.
Next Learning Center Class: Wednesday, March 11th
Join us for the next session of the 2015 Learning Center: Tastes of Spring Bloom with Great Olive Oil. In this class, the owners of Demi Olive Oil and Kontoulis Family Olive Oil will share their family techniques from farm to bottle. The evening will include a cooking demonstration with fresh, local produce. Great olive oil opens up a new world of taste! All classes take place at our office at 173 Main Street, 3rd Floor, in Ossining. Each class is $15 or $40 for three. Click HERE to learn more and buy tickets.
Rotating* Vendors This Week *Vendors who rotate through various markets during the season. They enjoy getting to know many communities. Here’s where to find them this week: Mamaroneck – Saturday, February 21st
Calcutta Kitchens Christiane’s Backstube Hudson River Apiaries **NEW TO MARKET!** – Simple Eats with Chef T (Healthy prepared foods to go)
Ossining – Saturday, February 21st
Kontoulis Family Olive Oil Sisters Wicked Good Soap Taiim Falafel Shack
Down to Earth Markets 173 Main Street Ossining, NY 10562 Phone: 914-923-4837 DowntoEarthMarkets.com
Slightly lower interest rates and home prices in markets across the country contributed to a slight increase in nationwide housing affordability in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 62.8 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of October and end of December were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $63,900. The HOI in the third quarter was 61.8 percent.
The national median home price declined from $220,800 in the third quarter to $215,000 in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, average mortgage interest rates decreased from 4.35 percent to 4.29 percent in the same period.
Syracuse, N.Y. claimed the title of the nation’s most affordable major housing market, as 92.8 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2014 were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $67,700.
Cumberland, Md.-W.Va. topped the affordability chart among smaller markets in the final quarter of 2014. There, 96.2 percent of homes sold during the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $54,100.
For a ninth consecutive quarter, San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. was the nation’s least affordable major housing market. There, just 11.1 percent of homes sold in the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $100,400.
All five least affordable small housing markets were in California. At the very bottom was Napa, where 12 percent of all new and existing homes sold were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $70,300.
