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Existing home sales decline 4.3% in November | South Salem NY Homes
Existing home sales fell 4.3% for November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.9 million, according to Thursday’s report from the National Association of Realtors, although median prices show strong growth year-over-year.
That’s down from 5.12 million in October, and 1.2% below the 4.96 million-unit pace in November 2012.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the market is being squeezed.
“Home sales are hurt by higher mortgage interest rates, constrained inventory and continuing tight credit,” he noted. “There is a pent-up demand for both rental and owner-occupied housing as household formation will inevitably burst out, but the bottleneck is in limited housing supply, due to the slow recovery in new home construction. As such, rents are rising at the fastest pace in five years, while annual home prices are rising at the highest rate in eight years.”
HousingWire will have detailed analysis of this, as well as today’s coming report on jobless claims for the week and where mortgage rates stand, and how it all ties into the Fed’s announcement Wednesday that it will begin tapering its purchase of mortgage-backed securities and Treasurys in 2014.
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28356-existing-home-sales-decline-43-in-november
7 Housing Trends for 2013 | South Salem NY Real Estate
As 2013 comes to a close and real estate experts predict where the housing market is headed in 2014, a look back reveals several trends.
“In 2012 we saw the housing market recover and, going into 2013, we expected continuing recovery,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. “Instead, the recovery accelerated a lot faster than we anticipated, which was great for sellers and for the 75 million homeowners who saw their home values appreciate.”
1. Housing Prices Rose Faster Than Expected
The national median listing price was $179,900 in January 2012 and rose to $180,000 by December 2012, according to realtor.com research. The pace of price appreciation accelerated quickly over the year to reach a median list price of $199,500 by September 2013.
2. Mortgage Rates Rose but Remained Low
“We expected mortgage rates to rise in 2013, and they started to increase in the late spring, but they’re still very affordable when you look at rates on a historical basis,” Yun said. “They just aren’t at the super-low point we saw earlier.” According to Freddie Mac, 30-year fixed-rate loans were as low as 3.45 percent in December 2012 and rose to 4.49 in September 2013. Barry Habib, co-owner and chief market strategist for Residential Finance Corp., said mortgage rates are likely to stay low and perhaps even drop between now and March 2014.
3. Bidding Wars Returned
The combination of rising prices, low mortgage rates and low inventory led to a sense of urgency among buyers and the return of bidding wars, said Don Frommeyer, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. According to realtor.com research, inventory in 2012 reached a high of 2,083,710 homes on the market, then steadily declined to a low of 1,583,497 homes in February 2013. At the end of September 2013, 2,210,000 homes were for sale, approximately a five-month supply.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/realtorcom/7-housing-trends-for-2013_b_4460914.html
10 Hot US Housing Markets To Watch In 2014 | South Salem NY Real Estate
Phoenix housing market’s recovery still lagging most metros | South Salem Real Estate
Metro Phoenix is outperforming most of the country in terms of home-prices, but employment is underwhelming and new-home permits are far below average.
That was the overall conclusion of the National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index, which released a report today comparing current economic and housing conditions in about 360 metro areas with the last period of normalcy before the Great Recession.
Overall, the Valley’s economic and housing activity is running at 79 percent of normal growth, landing it in the No. 250 slot and lagging the nationwide average of 84 percent.
That overall figure is an average of three categories — home prices, new-home permits and employment — based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Freddie Mac and the U.S. Census Bureau.
The index considers the last “normal” period for home prices and permitting as between 2000 and 2003, while the base comparison for employment is 2007. Each of the metro areas’ average permit, price and employment levels over the past 12 months are divided by their annual average over the last period of normal growth.
In Phoenix, home prices are exceeding 2000-03 levels by 24 percent, But current permitting levels are only one quarter of what they were during that normal period. Valley employment growth is running at 87 percent of previous norms.
Nationwide, 54 metro areas returned to or exceeded their last normal levels of economic and housing activity, excluding Phoenix.
“This index shows that most housing markets across the nation are continuing a slow, gradual climb back to normal levels,” said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson said in a prepared statement.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/12/05/phoenix-housing-markets-recovery.html?s=print
Rent or Buy? Running the Numbers On Five Downtown Studios | South Salem Real Estate
Every few weeks, our friends at StreetEasy run the numbers on apartments that are listed for both sale and rent in New York to compares the monthly costs for apartment hunters searching for the best deal. The tool doesn’t take into account every single thing (tax deductions are not factored in), but it’s one way to try to answer the eternal “rent or buy” question. Here now, we compare the data on five downtown studios, all of which are members of the Six Digit Club. These numbers assume a 20 percent downpayment and a 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 4.406 percent.
Address: 40 Broad Street, #28C, in FiDi (above) The Skinny: 590-square-foot unit in the amenity-laden Setai Wall Street Sale Price: $699,000 Maintenance/Taxes: $759/month Total monthly costs when buying: $4,047 Rental price: $3,000/month
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Address: 23 Waverly Place, #3A (above) The Skinny: A co-op studio with a sleeping loft in a building with a shared courtyard and rooftop deck Sale Price: $529,000 Maintenance/Taxes: $755 Total monthly costs when buying: $2,876 Rental price: $2,795/month
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Address: 317 East 18th Street, #SE (above) The Skinny: Near Gramercy Park, a co-op unit with a half-sized kitchen Sale Price: $290,000 Maintenance/Taxes: $890 Total monthly costs when buying: $2,053 Rental price: $2,000/month
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Address: 99 John Street, #813 (above) The Skinny: 671-square-foot studio with a home office in the Financial District Sale Price: $775,000 Maintenance/Taxes: $425 Total monthly costs when buying: $3,907 Rental price: $3,650/month
It’s official: JPMorgan signs $13B RMBS settlement | South Salem Real Estate
Mega bank JPMorgan Chase (JPM) signed an agreement with government agencies to end all existing legacy mortgage-backed securities issues for $13 billion.
New York Attorney General Eric Shneiderman, who co-chairs a working group overseeing legacy mortgage investigations, announced the deal, calling it the largest settlement with a single entity in American history.
Schneiderman chairs the RMBS working group, which has spent the past year investigating RMBS issues on behalf of state and federal regulators. The bank reached the deal with the RMBS Working Group, the Department of Justice, and countless other agencies.
The settlement reportedly resolves federal and civil claims related to the bank’s packaging, marketing, sale and issuance of mortgage-backed securities prior to the housing downturn. It also covers legacy issues left over from Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, two entities JPM took over in the wake of the financial meltdown.
As part of the final agreement, JPMorgan will pay $9 billion, while also providing $4 billion in consumer relief in the form of loan modifications for borrowers at risk of foreclosure.
New York state alone will receive $1 billion from the settlement, including $613 million in cash and another $400 million in consumer relief for struggling borrowers in the state.
Some of the aid will fund families impacted by Superstorm Sandy, with the rest going to legal services and counseling for distressed New York homeowners.
The RMBS Working Group that Schneiderman co-chairs helped usher in the deal. The organization is a joint state and federal effort launched back in 2012 to engage several agencies in the fight against legacy RMBS issues. Those entities include the Department of Justice and various federal and state law enforcement groups.
“Since my first day in office, I have insisted that there must be accountability for the misconduct that led to the crash of the housing market and the collapse of the American economy,” said Attorney General Schneiderman in a statement. “This historic deal, which will bring long-overdue relief to homeowners around the country and across New York, is exactly what our working group was created to do.”
NAR takes steps to build ‘Rockefeller Center’-like headquarters in Chicago | South Salem Realtor
Chicago may have its own Realtor Plaza in the not-too-distant future, modeled on New York’s iconic landmark, Rockefeller Center. Cheers and applause followed a vote by the board of directors of the National Association of Realtors today in which the board approved a redevelopment project for the trade group’s Chicago headquarters at 430 North Michigan Ave.
The project would involve demolishing the existing building, which is more than a half-century old, and combining it with an adjoining parcel to create a mixed-use development that would include retail, condominiums, a flagship hotel, and office space. NAR currently has a nonbinding understanding with a partner to build the project.
The trade group’s leaders declined to name the partner at today’s meeting. Pamela Monroe, chair of NAR’s Real Property Operations Committee, said the unidentified entity is “a world-class partner with premium credentials” that is “very private” and “extremely well-capitalized.”
“Our No. 1 priority is to maintain a permanent high-quality, high-productive work environment of which members and staff can be proud,” Monroe said, adding that other priorities include opportunities for branding and a return on investment.
NAR Treasurer Bill Armstrong noted that he and NAR CEO Dale Stinton had been in discussions with the partner for “a long time,” but had been prohibited from mentioning the project to members due to nondisclosure agreements.
The partner, which has “billions to invest,” proposed a 93-story, 2 million-square-foot building that would be a “Rockefeller Center-type venue,” Armstrong said.“This is one really exciting project we are trying to look into. The economics are very,very good,” he added.
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/11/11/nar-takes-steps-to-build-rockefeller-center-like-headquarters-in-chicago/#sthash.V7yrz5Pf.dpuf
Free FICO credit scores offered to millions | South Salem Real Estate
Millions of credit card customers of Barclaycard US, the payments business of Barclays in the U.S., and First Bankcard, the credit card division of First National Bank of Omaha, can now access their FICO credit scores for free.
The two banks are the first to participate in the FICO Open Access Program, which in addition to offering free FICO Scores, allows customers to see the two most important factors affecting their score and provides them with FICO educational materials to help them better understand credit scoring and what behaviors impact their FICO Score. The program is open to all consumer lenders, including mortgage lenders.
“This new program provides individuals with the specific FICO Score used by lenders to make credit decisions regarding an individual customer,” said James Wehmann, executive vice president of scores at FICO, in a statement.
“In 2012 approximately 10 billion FICO Scores were bought by lenders for risk management purposes, and we are prepared to allow all of them to be shared with bank customers without any additional score fee charged by FICO to lenders.”
FICO expects more than 25 million Americans to have access through the program within 12 months.
Source: FICO
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/free-fico-credit-scores-offered-to-millions/#sthash.mMbN7TKy.dpuf
Dropping Knowledge: When is the Best Time to Sell a Place? | South Salem Real Estate
Welcome to Dropping Knowledge, a new video series in which we offer pieces of advice—one-minute or less—from experts in the world of real estate and architecture. Our first guest, well-known to Curbed readers, is the one and only Jonathan Miller, who will teach us about apartment values and the market. Want to nominate a future guest? Let us know.
Appraiser, graph guru, and Three Cents Worth columnist Jonathan Miller is a source of much wisdom regarding the real estate market, so he was a natural first choice for Dropping Knowledge, a new video series featuring answers to common market questions. Today, JMillz answers a frequent market query: when is the best time to sell your apartment? Have questions you’d like answered in future videos? Please leave them in comments or via the tipline. · Three Cents Worth archive [Curbed] · Curbed Moving Pictures archive [Curbed]