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New Zealand Property Market Starts 2013 Strong | Pound Ridge Homes

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tatistics provided by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand indicate that the country’s residential real estate market saw its highest monthly rate of transactional volume in January than it’s seen in the past five years. Sales were up 21% for January compared to the same period last year and increased 4.2% for the year-on-year average. Agents are reporting shortages in inventory and nearly every region of the country has seen improvement in sales volume and the number of days to sale. Even so, the REINZ Stratified Housing Price Index still dropped 1% for the month. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire.

The residential real estate market in New Zealand has seen a solid start to the year with sales up 21% last month compared with the previous year and median prices up 4.2% year on year.

There was a new record median house price for Taranaki last month and sales by auction in January 2013 almost double those of January 2012, the figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand show.

The organisation says that robust demand drove sales volume growth in the residential property market during January to the highest level for the month in five years.

‘The residential real estate market has begun 2013 in good shape with a more than 20% increase in sales volume on this time last year,’ said Helen O’Sullivan, chief executive of REINZ.

Although the national median price eased from its December level it remained 4.2% above the level reported at the  same time last year and O’Sullivan said that given the highly seasonal nature of the housing market, prices and volumes tend to ease from their year end levels in January as marketing campaigns for many properties in the upper price bracket don’t begin until the latter half of the month.

‘Agents across the country are reporting continuing shortages of listings and positive buyer enquiry, even after taking into account the normal slowdown in activity over the Christmas and New Year break,’ she explained.

There has also been a six day improvement in the number of days  to sell between January 2013 and January 2012 and this is indicative of high levels of buyer activity in markets across the country.

All but one region recorded increases in sales volume compared to January last year, with Southland recording an increase of 40.4%, followed by Northland with 38.5% and Auckland with 26.7%. Only Southland recorded an increase in sales volume in January compared to December, with a 2.5% increase, while Taranaki recorded the same number of sales as December.
 
The national median house price fell by $19,000, from $389,000 in December, to $370,000 in January, a drop of 4.9%. Taranaki recorded a new record high median of $310,500 in January with a 10.5% increase compared to December. Hawkes Bay was the only other region to record an increase in the median price in January.

The national median house price is up 4.2% compared to January 2012, while the Auckland median price is up 8.1% compared to January 2012.  The Canterbury/ Westland median rose 5.8% and Nelson/Marlborough 4.6%.
 
The REINZ Stratified Housing Price Index, which adjusts for some of the variations in mix that can impact on the median price, is 7.2% higher than January 2012 and eased 1% compared to December. The Auckland Stratified Housing Price Index is up almost 12% compared to January 2012.
 
All regions, with the exception of Hawkes Bay and Taranaki, saw an improvement in the number of days to sell between January 2012 and January 2013. In January Canterbury/Westland recorded the shortest days to sell at 31 days, followed by Auckland with 33 days and Nelson/Marlborough with 40 days. Waikato/Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay both recorded the longest number of days to sell at 60 days, followed by Northland with 59 days and Taranaki with 55 days.  Over the past 10 years the median days to sell for the month of January has averaged 44 days across New Zealand.

Nationally there were 449 dwellings sold by auction in January representing 9.1% of all sales, almost double the number of sales by auction compared to January 2012. For the 12 months to January the total number of auctions reached 12,168 or 16.3% of all sales, compared to 7,195 or 11.6% of all sales for the 12 months to January 2012.

Transactions in Auckland again dominated the auction market in January, representing 73.5% of the national total of auction sales. Some 18.3% of all dwelling sales in Auckland were by this method in January, up from the 11.2% of sales by auction in January 2012. Sales by auction in Waikato/Bay Of Plenty accounted for 10.9% of the national total, Canterbury/Westland accounted for 6.7% of the national total, and all other regions combined accounted for the remaining 8.9% of auction sales in January 2013.

Across New Zealand the total value of residential sales, including sections was $2.24 billion in January, compared to $2.73 billion in December, and $1.72 billion in January 2012. For the 12 months ending in January 2013 the total value of residential sales was $34.47 billion.

The REINZ Housing Price Index eased 1% in January compared with December to sit at 3,488.1. Wellington rose 1.1% in January, while Auckland fell 2.1% and Christchurch 4.4%.  For the 12 months to January, the Auckland Index rose 11.8% and the Christchurch Index rose 9.9% compared to the National Index increase of 7.2%.

Outside of the main centres, the Other South Island Index was the next strongest with an increase of 3.9% for the 12 months to January 2013.

via nuwireinvestor.com

Sotheby’s International Realty details 2013 marketing program | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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Global luxury real estate brand Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC has added an Asian online publication to its mix of 2013 marketing partners and created an iPad marketing app for its agents.

In addition to re-upping online and print marketing relationships with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC.com, The Telegraph Media Group, Google and Architectural Digest, Sotheby’s International Realty will advertise with the luxury-focused online magazine Hong Kong Tatler in 2013.

“Our relationships with many of the world’s most influential news media have been cultivated over the course of several years and offer multiple levels of custom exposure for our network,” said Wendy Purvey, Sotheby’s International Realty’s chief marketing officer, in a statement. “Our marketing plan was designed to deliver 700 million overall impressions, generating valuable exposure among our core audience of consumers: the connoisseurs of life.”

The brand’s 12,600 sales associates associated with approximately 650 offices in 45 countries and territories will also have access to a new iPad marketing app in 2013.

The app, featuring slideshows, interactive images, videos and links, will be updated by Sotheby’s International Realty throughout the year, automatically giving its agents — and their clients — up-to-date marketing information.

“We are taking a cutting-edge and targeted approach in our marketing plan, which will help us create global connections and showcase the extraordinary homes our network represents,” Purvey said.

via inman.com

Student Loan Debt Won’t Hamper Homebuyers | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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The rise in student loan debt is certainly a cause for concern, but may not be a significant a drag on young home buyers since the typical borrower has not seen a significant jump in the amount of debt incurred and seems to have a manageable monthly payment.

That’s the finding from a new analysis by Chris Herbert, Research Director at the Harvard Joint Center for Hosing Studies.

However, student debt still will take its toll.  With much of the increase in student debt among both those age 30-39 and even older households there may be more need for concern about the impact of these loans on the ability of existing homeowners to balance their household budgets and save for retirement, Herbert wrote.

The sharp rise in student loan debt over the last decade has caught everyone’s attention – the numbers are truly eye-popping. Estimates from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that the total value of outstanding student loans nearly quadrupled between the start of 2003 and the third quarter of 2012, from $241 billion to just under $1 trillion.  Student loans now account for a greater portion of consumer debt than either credit cards or auto loans.  As the outstanding balance has grown, so too have delinquency rates. Together these trends have raised concerns that when today’s college graduates want to buy a home, they will have a hard time making the move, as their student debt will limit their ability to save or qualify for a mortgage.  But while there is no doubt that more young people are shouldering significant student loans, it is important to look at how this rising debt is distributed across households, to assess how much of a drag on homeownership these loans are likely to become.

Reports of increases in student loan debt naturally conjure images of recent college graduates as the primary bearers of this burden. In fact, the increase in student loans has been felt across the entire age spectrum-with the largest share of the growth actually among those over age 40 (Figure 1).  As of 2012, aggregate outstanding student loan debt was more or less evenly divided between borrowers under age 30, between 30 and 39, and 40 and older.  Looking back at 2005, student loan debt was more concentrated among those under age 30. But since then, borrowing has grown more rapidly for those in their 30s and over 40.  While information is not available on the uses of these loans, it seems likely that borrowing has increased both for 30-somethings going back to graduate school as well as for parents helping to finance their children’s educations.  Whatever the explanation, it is clear that the student loan burden is not just affecting recent college graduates, Herbert said.

It’s also important to consider how the increase in borrowing is distributed across the young households who might be interested in buying a home. One reason aggregate borrowing has increased so much is that more young people are taking out student loans.  Data from the Survey of Consumer Finances indicates that among those under age 30, the share of households with a student loan increased from 30 percent to 41 percent between 2004 and 2010, while among those age 30- 39 the share jumped from 21 percent to 34 percent.  However, while the number of borrowers increased, the typical amount borrowed barely budged.  The median student loan debt among those under 30 was essentially unchanged in real 2010 dollars over this period, at about $11,000.  Among those ages 30-39 the median was likewise fairly constant at about $15,000. So while more young people were taking on loans, for most borrowers the amount of debt was not significantly higher than in the past.

But over the same period, the average loan amount has shown more of an increase, up by nearly $4,000 among those under 30 and more than $6,000 for those aged 30-39.  The divergence in trends between median and average borrowing amounts signals that there has been a jump in the share of borrowers taking on sizeable amounts of debt.  Among those under 30, the share of borrowers with outstanding debt exceeding $50,000 increased from 5 percent of borrowers to 10 percent and for those 30-39 this share jumped from 14 to 19 percent.  While these borrowers account for a minority of all those with student loans, they account for a big share of the growth of total debt outstanding, representing 70 percent of the rise among those under 30 and 79 percent among those 30-39.  So a non-trivial portion of the problem of mounting student loan debt is concentrated in a minority of households

via realestateeconomywatch.com

 

Florida Markets Still the Best Places to Buy Foreclosures | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

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Hot foreclosure markets have come and gone over the past seven years but one thing seems to stay the same.  The markets with the most and the cheapest foreclosures are still located in Florida.

A judicial state that has had its share of controversy over robo-signing practices as well as high levels of negative equity and deep declines in home values since 2006, Florida markets still offer investors the best opportunities to buy and profit by either flipping or renting and holding renovated foreclosures.

To select the best places to buy foreclosures in 2013, RealtyTrac scored all metro areas with a population of 500,000 or more by summing up four numbers: months’ supply of foreclosure inventory, percentage of foreclosure sales, foreclosure discount, and percentage increase in foreclosure activity in 2012.

Topping the list of best places to buy foreclosures in 2013 was the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro area in Florida with a total score of 394: 34 months’ supply of inventory, foreclosure sales representing 24 percent of all sales, average foreclosure discount of 28 percent, and a 308 percent increase in foreclosure activity in 2012 compared to 2011.

Five other Florida cities ranked among the Top 20 best places to buy foreclosures: Lakeland, Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami.

Late last year, Zillow calculated that the foreclosure discounts in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties shrank to 2.9 percent discount in September, down from 6.8 percent a year earlier  Accordiong to Zillow, South Florida’s peak foreclosure discount was 22.7 percent in August 2008. But during the past year, a lack of homes for sale has frustrated buyers and led to multiple offers and bidding wars.

via realestateeconomywatch.com