Category Archives: Bedford Hills

New signs the housing market is approaching normal? | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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More fresh reads on housing this week as an industry group reported applications for home mortgages rose last week — driven by refinancing demand — and home improvement retailer Lowe’s came out with second quarter earnings, lowering its outlook on sales for the year.

Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Aaron Task in the video above points to a “dichotomy in the housing market” as evidenced by the data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, which showed a seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications up 2.7% last week but a gauge of applications for home purchases falling 0.4%. The MBA points out a recent interest rate drop pushed mortgage rates lower.

In addition, with Lowe’s (LOW) reducing its sales forecast just a day after rival Home Depot reported better-than-expected earnings and raised its guidance, Task says there’s “something for bulls and bears alike” in the data. Task contends the difference between Lowe’s and Home Depot’s (HD) performance is likely retailer-specific versus reflective of the housing sector.

The bulls are also bolstered by data out Monday showing new home construction rose sharply in July to its highest level in eight months. The Commerce Department reported housing starts rose 15.7% to 1.09 million homes, beating expectations for 963,000.

 

 

 

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/from-lowe-s-lowering-forecasts-to-the-uptick-in-refis–why-the-housing-market-is-approaching-normal-144631941.html

New rentals surge in Brooklyn and Queens | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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With Manhattan rents continuing to rise, Brooklyn and Queens experienced a surge of new rentals during the month of July, according to Douglas Elliman’s monthly rental report. In Manhattan, the median rental price last month rose 5.4 percent to $3,205, its highest July level in six years, according to the report, which was released today.“Anyone who is looking for an apartment is really not getting a deal,” said Luciane Serifovic, executive vice president of rentals for Douglas Elliman. In Queens and Brooklyn, she said, “Tenants are pushing back and seeking apartments elsewhere because probably they have more opportunities with some of the new development buildings.”In Manhattan, the average rental price in July was $4,022, a 5.2 percent increase from the prior year period.

Meanwhile, the number of new rentals increased 7.2 percent to 4,938, a reflection of the busy summer season. And the vacancy rate dropped to 1.82 percent – the lowest July vacancy rate in five years – while the listing inventory dropped 4.4 percent to 5,690 available units. Not surprisingly, the percentage of rentals with landlord concessions was “nominal,” falling 1.6 percent, the lowest in two years, said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel and the author of the Douglas Elliman report. In Brooklyn and Queens, median rents also continued to climb. Brooklyn’s rental prices in July were just $353 lower than Manhattan, down from $500 in June, and the median rental price rose 6.6 percent to $2,852. But the number of new Brooklyn rentals skyrocketed 127 percent to 892 – a reflection of tenant’s resisting the price increases sought by landlords at the time of renewal. Miller said the uptick in new rentals was bolstered by new developments.

Developments in Brooklyn and Queens tend to be rental buildings, while they tend to be condos in Manhattan, he said. In Queens, new rentals surged 136 percent to 203, and in particular, they did so in new development buildings. One out of four new rentals was located in a new building, according to the report. Overall, Queens’ median rental prices rose 10.5 percent to $2,646. –

 

 

 

See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/08/14/as-manhattan-rents-rise-new-rentals-surge-in-brooklyn-and-queens/#sthash.QaBYpbfp.dpuf

 

 

 

5 signs you’re ready to get a mortgage | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Interest rates remain at historic lows and the housing market continues to steadily recover, creating a strong environment for buying a home.

This doesn’t mean the timing is right for everyone, but you may already be doing these five things that show you could be ready to move toward homeownership. And, unless you have significant amounts of cash on hand, that means you’ll need to get a mortgage.

And so, this article in The Globe and Mail outlines the five signs you are ready for a mortgage.

1. You are making the right financial strides

“If they have already started saving toward a down payment, that is a great sign,” said Jeffrey Baker, a real estate agent with Sutton Group in Montreal. “They have either been saving aggressively over a certain length of time and given themselves a target for the amount that will be their down payment. Or they will have had a meeting with a financial adviser or bank, who has shown them the amount they can realistically spend.”

2. You are creating a firm budget

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“A well-educated first-time buyer needs to know their budgets to know where they stand,” said Russell Westcott, vice-president of Vancouver-based Real Estate Investment Network.

 

 

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5 signs you’re ready to get a mortgage

 

Year-over-year US home prices show a slowing gain | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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U.S. home prices rose in June by the smallest year-over-year amount in 20 months, slowed by modest sales and more properties coming on the market.

Data provider CoreLogic said Tuesday that prices rose 7.5 percent in June compared with 12 months earlier. That’s a solid gain but less than the 8.3 percent year-over-year increase in May and a recent year-to-year peak of 11.9 percent in February.

On a month-to-month basis, June prices rose just 1 percent, down from 1.4 percent in May. But CoreLogic’s monthly figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal patterns, such as warmer spring weather.

The slowing price gains should make buying a house more affordable. Prices had risen sharply last year, along with mortgage rates. At the same time, Americans’ paychecks haven’t risen nearly as fast, having increased roughly 2 percent a year since the recession ended — about the same pace as inflation. Many would-be buyers, particularly younger ones, were priced out of the market as a result.

Sales of existing homes fell in the second half of last year and have only modestly recovered since then. They rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million in June, the third straight increase. But that was still 2.3 percent fewer than the pace a year earlier.

And a measure of signed contracts slipped 1.1 percent in June, suggesting that sales might cool in coming months. It typically takes one to two months for a signed contract to become a completed sale.

More homes have been put up for sale, though the supply remains generally tight. There were 2.3 million homes for sale at the end of June, 6.5 percent higher than a year ago.

 

 

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http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2024242168_apxhomeprices.html

 

Down Payments Go Up for First-time Buyers | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Fewer first-time homebuyers are finding a way to buy a house with a relatively low down payment as their options shrink and lenders’ down payment requirements rise.

From April through June 2014, about 67 percent of first-time buyers made a downpayment of 6 percent or less, down from 74 percent in 2009, according to the latest Realtor Confidence Index report from the National Association of Realtors.

One reason the average down payment is growing may be that more and more first-timers are choosing conventional over FHA financing, which requires only 3.5 percent down. Underwriting standards have been getting tighter (see More Loans Close Despite Tight Standards) and borrowers’ costs are going up. Tight underwriting standards are especially challenging for first-time buyers, who generally need mortgage financing with low downpayment terms, who may be paying off student debt, and who may have credit scores that are not top-notch . Cumulative increases in FHA insurance premiums over the past two years that translates to about $100 a month in additional out-of-pocket costs for borrowers also is also discouraging buyers from using FHA financing, according to Realtors participating in the survey. (For more on FHA’s cost increases, see First-time Buyers to Pay for FHA’s Cost Increases).

 

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2014/07/down-payments-go-up-for-first-time-buyers/

 

 

Existing home sales in June down 2.3% YOY | Bedford Hills Homes

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Existing home sales declined 2.3% in June 2014 from June 2013, reaching an annual pace of 5 million sales for the first time since October 2013, while rising inventory continues to push overall supply towards a more balanced market, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sales are at the highest pace since October 2013, but remain 2.3% below the 5.16 million-unit level a year ago.

The downward pressure on existing home sales comes from the West, where sales remain 7.3% below June 2013.

Total existing home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, climbed 2.6% from May 2014 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million.

Single-family home sales rose 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.43 million in June from 4.32 million in May, but remain 2.9% below the 4.56 million pace a year ago.

The median existing single-family home price was $224,300 in June, up 4.5% from June 2013.

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30734-existing-home-sales-in-june-down-23-yoy

Mortgage foreclosures hit their lowest level since mid-2006 | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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The number of homes facing bank auctions, default notices and scheduled auctions totaled 107,194 last month, down 16 percent from June 2013, according to RealtyTrac, a housing industry research firm based in Irvine, Calif. June’s total was the lowest since July 2006, the company said.

“Nationwide foreclosure activity in June reached an important milestone,” Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac vice president, said in a statement. “Over the next six to nine months, foreclosure numbers should start to flatline at consistently historically normal levels.”

The foreclosure numbers in Kansas and Missouri were mixed last month. Kansas reported 410 distressed properties in June, up nearly 33 percent from a year earlier. In Missouri, 946 properties faced foreclosure action, down nearly 43 percent from June 2013, RealyTrac said.

Through the first half of 2014, there were 613,874 properties nationwide with foreclosure filings, down 23 percent from the first six months of 2013.

Florida, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Nevada had the highest foreclosure rates through the first half of 2014.

 

 

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http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article742736.html

 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article742736.html#storylink=cpy

 

Amazingly accurate Paul Krugman predictions from 2011 | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Earlier today, HousingWire posted some coverage of the alleged circumstances around the pending resignation of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman from his professorship at Princeton University.

The main reason for Krugman’s decision?

The Forbes coverage points to Krugman being “thoroughly indicted and publicly eviscerated for intellectual dishonesty by Harvard’s Niall Ferguson in a hard-hitting three-part series in the Huffington Post, beginning here, and with a coda in Project Syndicate, all summarized at Forbes.com.”

Soon after posting, I received an email from a popular economics blogger, who took me to task for publishing the article in the first place.

“Ferguson has become a laughing stock among analysts (remember his declaration that public employment was soaring under Obama – ignoring the temporary Census hiring! ROFLOL),” they wrote.

“Ferguson has been wrong about everything from inflation to employment … one good historical book doesn’t make him an expert on everything,” they added.

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/30647-amazingly-accurate-paul-krugman-predictions-from-2011

Own a Modernist Home in an Architects’ Utopia for $1.4M | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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This circa-1948 International Style three-bedroom was designed and inhabited by Norman and Jean Fletcher, two founding members of The Architects Collaborative, or TAC, which was started in 1945 when Bauhaus mainstay Walter Gropius teamed up with a group of young architects. The very rectangular 3,400-square-foot abode is part of the planned community of Six Moon Hill in Lexington, Mass., an early TAC pursuit that saw most of the founding partners (Gropius excluded) building houses and starting families on 20 bucolic acres they bought together. The Fletcher residence, which was last sold in 2013 for $1.34M, has the same flat roof, vertical wood siding, and walls of glass shared by the original Six Moon Hill homes, and also shares their communal commitment to keeping bedrooms small and shared spaces expansive. Back in 2004, one resident told the Boston Globe that “things have changed since the ’50s and ’60s, when everyone was running in and out of everyone’s houses.” But at least a decade ago, the socialist spirit of the place lived on in “great community traditions, like snowstorm parties.” The ask, for admittance into this Bauhaus-inspired American experiment? $1.398M.

 

 

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/07/07/own-a-modernist-home-in-an-architects-utopia-for-14m.php

Detroit homes face foreclosure due to unpaid taxes | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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In January, the owners of 43,634 properties in Detroit owed the county more than $328 million combined in unpaid taxes and fees, the New York Times reported.

Since then, some have paid their debts, entered payment plans or qualified for assistance, but 26,038 properties continue to face foreclosure and many are headed for public auction, the news outlet said.

Most of the properties are residential, though 5 percent are former businesses. One-third of the properties are vacant lots.

Source: nytimes.com