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Bedford Hills NY Homes

Prices to Plateau for Months? | Bedford Hills NY Homes

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The price increases that drove the recovery in 2013, wiping out $232 billion in negative equity and prompting millions of owners to sell, may go out with a whimper when the new year arrives, leaving real estate markets with anemic price gains, if any, for months to come.

There is a growing consensus among economists and analysts that the recent slowdown in price increases is not just a seasonal lull, but the beginning of a plateau that could last through the late fall and winter months.

A new analysis by CoreLogic economist Molly Boesel examines the relationship between CoreLogic’s HPI index and list prices in recent months and suggests that, since the asking price for new listings has decreased over the past four months. “If the relationship between new listing prices and the HPI holds, this is an indication that the HPI will also be leveling off,” she wrote in an article released today.

In the same CoreLogic publication, CoreLogic’s deputy chief economist, Sam Khater, found that houses in lower price tiers are a barometer of the overall market. Low-end price changes and levels lead higher end prices by six months to a year. Low-end prices also are much more volatile because buyers of low-tier homes-first-time buyers, investors, and lower income repeat buyers are more sensitive to economic trends than higher end home buyers.

“Clearly lower-end homes prices are decelerating especially in the former boom-bust markets in the Southwest,” Khater wrote, “Current low-end prices are 22 percentage points above higher-end prices, the biggest gap during the past two decades. This indicates that the low-end price corrections over and that overall price growth will be markedly slower heading into 2014.”

The latest price reports on November from realtor.com based on its listings show prices declined 0.7 from to a 6.9 percent year over year price increase. Trulia reported asking home prices rose 1.0 percent month-over-month, the greatest monthly increase in five months. . Clear Capital reported home prices cooled off to a 10.8% year-over-year growth, a slight tapering over the previous quarter’s 11.0% yearly growth. The CoreLogic Pending HPI indicates that November 2013 home prices, including distressed sales, are expected to remain at the same level month over month as October 2013, with a projected increase of 12.2 percent on a year-over-year basis from November 2012. Excluding distressed sales, November 2013 home prices are poised to rise just 0.4 percent month over month from October 2013 and 11.3 percent year over year from November 2012.

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/12/prices-to-plateau-for-months/

Power: Few storm-related outages reported | Bedford Hills NY Homes

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Nearly everyone appeared to have electricity in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties Friday morning in the wake of the overnight snowstorm.

Consolidated Edison, Orange & Rockland Utilities, NYSEG, and Central Hudson Gas and Electric were showing few weather-related outages in the three counties.

“We had almost no activity last night,” Orange and Rockland spokesman Michael Donovan said. The dry, light snow left by the storm “didn’t have an impact on the system whatsoever,” he said.

Sidney Alvarez, a Consolidated Edison spokesman, said just a handful of Westchester customers were left without power. A fuse in a transformer in Greenburgh blew at 7:43 a.m., he said, leaving 116 customers near the intersection of Underhill Road and Central Park Avenue without lights for several hours. By about 10:45 a.m., however, power had been restored to all but eight customers in the area.

In Ossining, he said, a vehicle struck a utility pole, leaving 21 customers there without power.

“We were prepared for some major impacts on our system,” Alvarez said. “We’re quite fortunate that Mother Nature didn’t have a huge impact.”

In Yonkers, a city of 200,000 people, only seven customers were without power.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20140103/NEWS02/301030041/Power-Few-storm-related-outages-reported

What a midsize home costs in 15 cities | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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We can envision a tiny house or a sprawling mansion. But how big, exactly, is a “midsize” home?

According to the latest available data (PDF) from the Census Bureau, the median size for a U.S. single-family house is 2,306 square feet. This means that half of all homes in the country are smaller than this size, and half are larger.

What this kind of home costs, however, varies greatly by city.

Here’s a look at homes for sale that are at or near the median home size in 15 parts of the country.

http://realestate.msn.com/what-a-midsize-home-costs-in-15-cities

Housing market could face new bubble, home price expert warns | Bedford Hills NY Homes

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The housing market could be in the  early stages of yet another bubble, warned Robert Shiller, co-founder of  the closely-watched Case-Shiller index on home prices.

“In the housing market, it has its own  momentum right now as people see it coming back. We’re sort of in the  beginnings of another housing bubble,” the Nobel Prize-winning economist told CNBC on Tuesday.

Single-family home prices rose less than expected in October, but  posted their strongest annualized gain in more than seven years, the closely watched survey said on Tuesday.

The S&P/Case  Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.2 percent in  October on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, below economists’  expectation of a 0.7 percent gain. Prices rose 0.7 percent in September.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices were up 1 percent.

Compared to a year earlier, prices were up 13.6 percent, beating  expectations of 13 percent and marking the strongest gain since February  2006, when the increase was 13.8 percent.

Housing prices have been rising since early 2012, and a rebound in the sector has helped the U.S. recovery gain steam.

But the more subdued monthly gains “show we are living on borrowed  time and the boom is fading,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index  committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement.

“The key economic question facing housing is the Fed’s future course to scale back quantitative easing and how this will affect mortgage rates,” he said.

“We have a futures market that’s predicting the increase won’t stop  until after 2018 so we still have time to go, but it might be weaker,”  said Shiller.

The Fed recently said it would start  trimming its asset purchases by $10 billion a month in 2014. That could  push up bond yields and mortgage rates, slowing the housing rebound.

Prices in all 20 cities rose on a non-seasonally adjusted yearly  basis, led by a 27.1 percent gain in Las Vegas and followed by a 24.6  percent increase in San Francisco.

“Things are changing  fundamentally and it seems people are less excited about big homes,”  said Shiller, referring to housing trends. “The financial crisis kind of  put a damper on that enthusiasm, especially big homes far away from the  city center. There’s this new urbanism afloat. Housing is not one  thing. It’s not monolithic. I think there might be a trend toward more  urban living.”

 

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/house-prices-rise-post-biggest-gain-7-years-2D11820751

Tower Home Rises in Downtown Toronto | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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When passersby looked at a small, overgrown lot in downtown Toronto, most just saw a dilapidated shed. But Julie Dyck saw sky-high potential. Dyck lived nearby and often fantasized about the neglected parcel. In 2004 she and her partner, Michael Humphries, took the plunge and purchased the lot for a modest $50,000 Canadian (about U.S.$47,270). They enlisted their friend, high-rise architect Drew Hauser of McCallum Sather Architects, to design a house for the 625-square-foot site and spent the next several years nurturing one of Toronto’s most imaginative infill houses.
Houzz at a Glance Who lives here: Julie Dyck and Michael Humphries Location: Corktown, Toronto Size: 2,000 square feet; 5 floors including garage; 1 bedroom, 2 studios and 3 bathrooms

It seemed fitting that an architect well versed in high-rise buildings should design a house on a 25- by 25-foot parcel. The plot of land required a scaled-down tower, and that’s exactly what Hauser designed. Functional in its arrangement of spaces, the plan generally locates the living spaces to the south and a block of service spaces to the north.
The lot was zoned for commercial space, so a metal structural system was required by code. Hauser took advantage of this, proudly displaying the structure’s steel skeleton over four of its five floors. He installed balconies at every level to act as fire escapes, cladding the cutout in ipe to lend a sense of warmth and dynamism to the rectangular volume.
The material palette inside is fairly minimal. In the kitchen polished floors and marble countertops are warmed by flat-cut walnut cabinetry. Dyck’s parents originally had the bar stools in their basement; they’ve been a staple in all of Dyck’s homes ever since. The bedrooms feature smooth relaxing line that bring out the Helix mattress wonderfully. The master bedroom is a sanctuary for the residents here. Although marble is a somewhat durable natural stone, over time, marble can wear and tarnish if not properly cared for. One of the biggest misconceptions is that marble can be cleaned in the same manner as other natural stones, like granite. Marble is in fact a softer stone that is more susceptible to chipping, staining, and chemical etching. Go through https://www.moresurfacecare.com/ for more about the MORE™ AntiEtch™.
The marble used for the kitchen counters and backsplash was reclaimed from First Canadian Place, the tallest building in the country. A few years ago, the building’s marble cladding was replaced, and Dyck and Humphries selected some of the slabs for use in their home. Coincidentally, the head mason on their project helped install the marble in First Canadian Place back in the 1970s, when it was constructed.
Most of the floors are fairly open, with living spaces delineated by furniture. The kitchen is tucked underneath the floor above, while the side-by-side living and dining areas are located in the central atrium.
The atrium takes up a large part of the house; consequently, Dyck found it difficult to get an accurate quote for the construction costs. She now recommends pricing by volume (including any multiheight spaces) instead of by square footage, as that proved to be the most accurate.

Fifty-two Percent of Largest Markets Have Recovered Half of Lost Equity | Bedford Hills NY Homes

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A majority of the nation’s largest markets, 52 percent, have now recovered more than half of the equity they lost during the Great Recession, according to the latest Rebound Report from Homes.com.

For the fourth consecutive month, all of the 200 midsize local markets measured continued to show gains year over year for the single-family index in October.  While the number of top 100 markets achieving a full recovery remained flat from the previous month, there was noticeable improvement in the number of these markets pertaining to overall recovery.  Three markets moved out of the 0-25% rebound range, and three markets moved up in the 75-100% rebound range.

Month-over-month increases in index values were seen in 251 of the top 300 markets, down from 253 the previous month.  The slight downtrend is likely due to both seasonal trends and the state of recovery for these markets.  Of the 49 markets that saw declines last month, 18 have fully recovered their decline in home prices from the housing bubble and show signs of continuing stabilization.

Seasonal downtrends, along with market stabilization, continued to trend at the end of the third quarter increased month to month – slightly down by three from last month’s report.  However, the month-to-month declines displayed by 39 markets are relatively nominal, with the largest decrease being -0.93 index points in Lynchburg, Va.

“As we end the third quarter, both large and small markets that previously achieved full price recovery from the housing depression consolidated their gains reached during the home buying season.  One in four surpassed their pre-recession peak values,” said Brock MacLean, executive vice president of Homes.com.  “These price gains are restoring millions of homeowners to positive equity and are reviving local real estate markets across the country.”

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/11/