Category Archives: South Salem

CoreLogic Kicks off 2015 in Style | #SouthSalem Real Estate

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CoreLogic reports shows that home prices nationwide increased 5.7 percent in January 2015 compared to January 2014. This change represents 35 months of consecutive year-over-year increases in home prices nationally.

On a month-over-month basis, home prices nationwide increased by 1.1 percent in January 2015 compared to December 2014*.  Some 27 states and the District of Columbia are at or within 10 percent of their peak. Four states, New York (+5.6), Wyoming (+8.3 percent), Texas (+8.3 percent) and Colorado (+9.1 percent), reached new highs in the home price index since January 1976 when the index starts.

The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices, including distressed sales, are projected to increase 0.4 percent month over month from January 2015 to February 2015 and, on a year-over-year basis, by 5.3 percent** from January 2015 to January 2016. Excluding distressed sales, home prices are expected to increase 0.3 percent month over month from January 2015 to February 2015 and by 4.9 percent** year over year from January 2015 to January 2016. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a monthly projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state.

“House price appreciation has generally been stronger in the western half of the nation and weakest in the mid-Atlantic and northeast states,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “In part, these trends reflect the strength of regional economies. Colorado and Texas have had stronger job creation and have seen 8 to 9 percent price gains over the past 12 months in our combined indexes. In contrast, values were flat or down in Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland in our overall index, including distressed sales.”

“We continue to see a strong and progressive uptick in home prices as we enter 2015. We project home prices will continue to rise throughout the year and into 2016,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “A dearth of supply in many parts of the country is a big factor driving up prices. Many homeowners have taken advantage of low rates to refinance their homes, and until we see sustained increases in income levels and employment they could be hunkered down so supplies may remain tight. Demand has picked up as low mortgage rates and the cut in the FHA annual insurance premium reduce monthly payments for prospective homebuyers.”

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2015/03/corelogic-kicks-off-2015-in-style/

 

 

2014 Ended with 39 Percent of Housing Markets Fully Recovered | South Salem Real Estate

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As the year ended, 39 percent, or 117, of the nation’s largest 300 markets achieved full price recovery, up 30 percent from the end of 2013. Hundreds of other markets moved closer to full recovery; by December, the average rebound percentage of all 300 markets was 95.85 percent, which was slightly higher than 95.49 percent recorded in November.

 

Markets that lost the least value during the Great Recession have been the first to rebound. Of the markets with a peak-to-trough decline of less than 10 percent, 25 had an average rebound of 107 percent in December. Of the markets that lost 10 to 20 percent of value, the average rebound reached 99 percent of the prior peak price in December. In the markets that suffered the most severe price declines, the average rebound percentage was 81 percent.

 

In December, 42 of the top 100 markets measured continued to show a complete price recovery, increasing by two from November. Jackson, MS and NashvilleDavidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN were the new markets rebounding at 100.15 percent and 100.16 percent, respectively. Additionally, 75 midsize markets saw a rebound above 100 percent, up by four markets from November’s report.

 

“Great progress was made in the housing market during 2014. It put the real estate sector within striking distance of a majority of the nation’s 300 largest markets reaching full price recovery.  As markets reach new price peaks, they are restoring equity to millions of homeowners, making it possible for them to refinance or sell,” said David Mele, president of Homes.com.

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2015/02/8482/

Mortgage Loan Rates Post Third Straight Weekly Rise | South Salem Real Estate

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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a week-over-week decrease of 3.5% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending February 20. That followed a drop of 13.2% for the week ending February 13, mortgage loan rates increased on all five types of loans for the second consecutive week.

On an unadjusted basis, the composite index decreased by 12% week-over-week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased 5% compared to the week ended February 13. The unadjusted purchase index fell by 2% for the week and is now 2% lower year-over-year.

Home buying action is typically slow in January and February due to wintry weather. Home price increases have fallen sharply year-over-year, as Tuesday’s Case-Shiller home price index indicated. Interest rates are rising, likely in an effort to attract bond investors.

Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 5.2% of all applications, down from 5.3% in the prior week.

The MBA’s refinance index decreased 8% week-over-week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing declined from 66% in the prior week to 62%.

The FHA share of all applications rose from 15.2% a week ago to 15.3%, and the VA share decreased from 8.0% to 9.6%.

The average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.93% to 3.99%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.92% to 4.09%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.24% to 3.28%.

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mortgage-loan-rates-post-third-123055690.html

NAR Reports Existing Sales Disappoint | South Salem Real Estate

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Existing home sales decreased 4.9% in January, and the share of sales for first-time buyers continued to disappoint. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported January 2015 total existing home sales at a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.82 million units combined for single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, down from a revised 5.07 million units in December. January existing sales were up 3.2% from the same period a year ago.

Existing Home Sales January 2015

Existing sales from the previous month were down in all four regions, ranging from 2.7% in the Midwest to 7.1% in the West. Year-over-year, existing sales were up in all four regions, ranging from 5.6% in the South to 0.9% in the Midwest.

The first-time buyer share decreased to 26% in January, down from 29% in December and 31% in November. This continuing downward trend follows 2014 during which the annual share of first-time buyers fell to its lowest level in nearly three decades. Reports of easing mortgage standards will help first-time buyers, and a full recovery awaits their return to their typical 40% share.

Total housing inventory increased 0.5% in January to 1.87 million existing homes. At the current sales rate, the January 2015 inventory increased to a 4.7-month supply, up from a 4.4-month supply in December. NAR also reported that in January the typical time on the market was 69 days, up from 66 days in December, and slightly up from 67 days during the previous January. NAR reported that 30% of homes sold in January were on the market less than a month, down from 31% in December and 32% in November.

The distressed sales share January sales remained unchanged from December at 11%, and was down from 15% during the same month a year ago. Distressed sales are defined as foreclosures and short sales sold at deep discounts. January all cash sales increased to 27% of transactions, up from 26% in December and 25% in November, but were down from 33% during the same month a year ago. Individual investors purchased a 17% share in January, unchanged from December, but that share was down from the 20% share last January. Some 67% of January investors paid cash, up from 63% in December and 61% in November. The awaited withdrawal of cash investors will create more opportunity for first-time buyers.

The January median sales price of $199,600 was 6.2% above the previous January, and represented the 35th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases. The median condominium/co-op price dropped for the sixth consecutive month to $198,300 in January, but was up 5.3% from the same period a year ago.

The Pending Home Sales Index decreased 3.7% in December, so the decline in January existing sales was not a surprise. However, it is expected that existing sales will regain their upward momentum during 2015, hopefully supported by the much awaited recovery for first-time buyers.

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/02/existing-sales-disappoint/

Housing Starts Decline in the Midwest | South Salem Real Estate

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The pace of housing starts declined 2% in January, including a significant decrease in single-family construction in the Midwest connected to weather factors. Nonetheless, the current pace of home construction remains strong and growth should continue in 2015.

According to the joint Census Bureau and HUD release, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came in at 1.065 million, down from a revised pace of 1.087 million in December 2014.

Jan housing starts

The rate of starts for single-family construction was down 6.7% from December, yielding a 678,000 annual pace. Most of this decline is attributable to a 31% drop for single-family starts in the Midwest, which fell from a 133,000 annual rate in December to 92,000 in January.

This decline is consistent with elements of the February NAHB / Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which suggested declines in builder confidence due to weather factors. However, builder sentiment remains positive, and NAHB expects single-family starts to rise in the coming months given favorable job creation numbers and pent-up housing demand.

Multifamily starts remained strong in February, rising 7.5% to a 387,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate. The three-month moving average of multifamily starts has been above 350,000 since April of 2014.

Jan homes under construction

As a check on the state of the recovery in housing construction, the government data also includes a summary of housing units under construction. On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 839,000 total homes under construction as of January. The single-family total was 366,000, which is the highest for the post-recession period and almost 9% higher than January 2014.

Multifamily units construction stand at 462,000, also a post-recession high. This estimate is more than 25% higher than the January 2014 total of 368,000.

 

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http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/02/

Hollywood Founder’s Spectacular Mansion | South Salem Real Estate

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The stately, 23 room Mediterranean Revival mansion that Joseph Young, who developed Hollywood in the 1920s, built for himself on Hollywood Boulevard, can be yours for $2.19 million. The over-6,000 square foot house is one of the grandest (if not the grandest) home in the neighborhood, and embodies the dreams that Young had for his city, which in its day was similar to other swanky South Floridian cities like Coral Gables in a lot of ways. That included extensive master planning. Grand thoroughfares, like Hollywood Boulevard, connected elegant public amenities like Young Circle and the Hollywood Beach Resort. Even though Hollywood has certainly proven to be a successful and inviting community, it never quite became as ritzy of a locale as Young envisioned it, which might explain why the house has been on the market since 2012. People looking for this kind of spread don’t tend to look in Hollywood.

 

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http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2015/02/11/hollywood-founders-spectacular-mansion-is-219-million.php

What’s Happening to the Most Important Homes in Real Estate? | South Salem Real Estate

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What’s really happening with homes in the bottom price tiers?

These are the most important homes in the entire real estate economy.  They are where the housing ladder begins: they are then entry point for new buyers, the starter homes that MUST be available and affordable for Millennials if the housing economy is to ever function again as it was meant to.  Until families ready to move up lists their starter homes, nothing is available to buy.

Reams have been written about tight credit stopping first time buyers but almost nothing about an equally serious problem. Homes on the lowest tier haven’t appreciated sufficiently for owners to sell—or even to make it possible for them to sell.

Despite the progress that has made since the housing crash, some 5.1 million homes, or 10.3 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, were still in negative equity as of Q3 2014, according to CoreLogic.  Another 9.4 million had less than 20-percent equity (referred to as “under-equitied”), making it virtually impossible for them to sell or refinance.  That totals some 14.3 million homes or about 28 percent of homes with a mortgage are frozen in place.

A disproportionate number of lower cost homes are among this total, according to a new analysis from Black Knight Financial Services released this week. Black Knight’s latest Mortgage Monitor Report, based on data through the end of November 2014, found that home price recovery varies significantly for properties within different tiers of home values.  .A decade after the housing crash, some 85 percent of homes valued at less than $200,000 of no equity while 94 percent of homes valued at greater than $200,000 have equity.  Home price recovery for the lowest 20 percent of property values has lagged behind those it the top price tiers.

“We looked at HPI appreciation from pre-crisis peaks to today in the 10 states currently trailing the furthest behind their pre-crisis housing maximums,” said Barnes. “The data showed a clear difference in the levels of recovery among home price tiers. The Black Knight HPI separates home values for every geographical division into five equal tiers; those in the lowest 20 percent of home values have been lagging behind their higher-valued counterparts in recovery to pre-crisis peaks, sometimes considerably.

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2015/02/whats-happening-to-the-most-important-homes-in-real-estate/

Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal’s Far-Out Vegas Home Lists for $777K | South Salem Real Estate

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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Price: $777,000
The former Las Vegas home of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, the late casino exec, mob associate, and FBI informant whose exploits inspired Martin Scorsese’s Casino, is back on the market for a lucky-sounding $777K. Though some things have changed since Lefty’s day, it’s about as groovy a 70s time capsule as you’re likely to find adjacent to the Las Vegas Country Club.

According to listing agent Brian Burns, Lefty spent around $500K having the three-bedroom reconstructed back in the mid-70s, after it was gutted by fire. The interior was done by designer Stephen Chase, who at the time was working for Arthur Elrod out in Palm Springs.

There have been four owners since Lefty (the current ones bought it in 2011 for $615K), all of which have been intent on “keeping the historic integrity of the home intact,” says Burns. Most of the floors have been redone over the years, though, and a second-floor picture window was added in back. The current owners redid the kitchen with a new backsplash and Caesarstone countertops, and outfitted the dwelling with a Savant smart home system.

The pieces of wall art in the living and dining rooms, which were commissioned by Stephen Chase when he was designing the interior, are including in the sale, as are the semicircular couch and lamp in the living room, the bedrooms sets, and a bunch of Lefty memorabilia. Also included, according to a 2011 article in the Las Vegas Review Journal: “bulletproof doors and picture windows, a hidden gun compartment,” and a “suspected” bullet mark chipped from one of the windowpanes.

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2015/01/29/frank-lefty-rosenthal-vegas-home-for-sale.php

Foreclosure Inventory Fell 36% in November: CoreLogic | South Salem Real Estate

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The number of homes in some stage of foreclosure dropped 36% in November compared to the previous year, according to a report Wednesday from CoreLogic.

The Irvine, Calif.-based data firm said in a press release that roughly 567,000 homes were in foreclosure, compared to 880,000 homes in November 2013.

The number of completed foreclosures fell 10%, to 41,000. Compared to a peak in September 2010, completed foreclosures were down 64%.

“While the national level of foreclosures may normalize in the next two years, there will always be the potential for some pockets of distress in the mortgage market,” said Molly Boesel, a senior economist at CoreLogic, in a press release.

Florida reported the highest number of foreclosures for the 12-month period ending in November, with 118,000 homes completing the process.

 

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http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/distressed/foreclosure-inventory-fell-36-in-november-corelogic-1043605-1.html

3 Reasons It’s Not a Seller’s Housing Market | South Salem Real Estate

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If you’re considering purchasing a home, but worried that rising home prices mean you’ll pay too much for a house, think again. Just because home prices have risen doesn’t mean it’s a seller’s market out there. Here’s why.

1. Home Prices Aren’t Necessarily Inflated

Home prices have gone up, but have they done so unreasonably? Rewind to 2012, the unemployment rate exceeded 8%, short sales and foreclosures were still rampant, consumer confidence was low, the prospect of job growth was bleak and the general consensus was that the economy was still licking its wounds from the recession. People don’t buy homes when they’re feeling skittish about their job. Fast forward to 2015, job growth is getting traction, the banks are clearing foreclosures from their balance sheets and short sales are dropping. The result? Because the pendulum swung so far in the opposite direction with drastically low real estate prices several years ago, today’s prices in general are a reasonable correction of a settling housing market.

The likelihood for prices to continue to rise by leaps and bounds while credit is still tight is a shot in the dark, as wage strength has still not peaked. Remember, banks still have tight constraints on lending and are especially picky when approving large mortgages. Home prices in many markets are in direct proportion to the local economy. Take San Francisco, for example, where home prices are, without question, exorbitant. The tech industry is having a massive boom, driving prices up. The stronger the local economy, the more people working, the more support housing prices will have to remain strong.

2. Many Sellers Have Unrealistic Expectations

This average home price appreciation has brought sellers out of the woodwork in hopes of attaining a maximum price. Many have expectations far larger then what the market will bear. The best example of this is a home listed on the market for longer than 30 days within a strong local economy. Look at Sonoma County, Calif., where if a house is on the market longer than 30 days without a contract, it’s a good sign the property is listed too high. The only alternative is to drop the list price to induce an offer. It’s not uncommon at all these days to have a home close escrow at a price beneath the original listing price. (If you’re a seller who’s not sure what to offer on a house, talk with your real estate agent and take their advice — this is what you hire them to do.)

3. Multiple Offers Are Less Common

A good indication of a seller’s market is when there are large numbers of multiple offers – say eight to 10 – for each listed property. That is a strong indicator of the true seller’s market, much like it was in early 2014 and even summer of 2014. But these days I’m seeing that a handful of offers at best is more realistic. Less competition means a greater opportunity to get your foot in the door.

Consider this: Mortgage rates are down, increasing affordability. More people can afford to pay a little bit more for a home and not feel financially squeezed because their housing payment is lower. Prices do rise in relationship to what a ready and able buyer is willing to pay for a property. But the basics also come into play, including the location of the property, school district, bedrooms, bathrooms and lot size are all critical factors in the listing price of a home. Agents know this, but not so much sellers, who still believe they can get top dollar for their property regardless of whether they really can.

 

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-reasons-not-sellers-housing-181010833.html