Tag Archives: South Salem NY Real Estate

Pending Home Sales at 30-Month Low | South Salem Homes

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The National Association of Realtors (NAR) Thursday morning released its data  on pending sales of existing homes in February. The pending home sales index  fell 0.8% from a downwardly revised index reading of 94.7 in January to the  February reading of 93.9. That is 10.5% lower than in February 2013, when the  index reading was 104.9. The consensus estimate called for a month-over-month  decrease of 0.8% in pending sales. The index reflects signed contracts, not  sales closings. An index reading of 100 equals the average level of contract  signings during 2001.

Total existing home sales are expected to come to 5 million, below the 2013  total of 5.1 million. National median home prices are forecast to rise by about  5.5% to 6.0% this year, but existing home inventory levels need to increase to  help keep prices in check. The median price forecast is slightly higher than  last month’s forecast. Home prices rose 11.5% in 2013.

The NAR’s chief economist noted:

Contract signings for the past three months have been little changed,  implying the market appears to be stabilizing. Moreover, buyer traffic  information from our monthly Realtor® survey shows a modest turnaround, and some  weather delayed transactions should close in the spring.

Pending home sales in the northeastern United States declined 2.4% in  January, posting an index reading of 77.1, down 7.4% from February 2013. The  index rose 2.8% in the Midwest but remains 8.5% below last year’s reading. Sales  fell 4% in the South and rose by 2.3% in the West. Compared with February 2013,  all regions are down.

Pending home sales do not have the economic impact of new home sales, which employ  thousands of people in building and furnishing new homes. But it does give some  indication of the market for housing

Read more:  Pending Home Sales at 30-Month Low – 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/housing/2014/03/27/pending-home-sales-at-30-month-low/#ixzz2xGWrwkK4

$12.9M Jaggedy Zapata House In Golden Beach Has FDR Twist | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Curbed National has the story of a $12.9 million oceanfront house in Golden Beach designed by Carlos Zapata (the guy that did that space ship-like metal fountain on the Washington Avenue terminus of Lincoln Road) which claims to be the site of Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s Winter White House. A little digging turns up little evidence to support this, except that Eleanor Roosevelt rented a house down the street, twice. A little more investigating might be in order.

 

 

http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/20/zapata-designed-house-in-golden-beach.php

Fully Reno’d ‘House of the Day After Tomorrow’ Asks $5.5M | South Salem Homes

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Location: Lake Forest, Ill.
Price: $5,499,000
The Skinny: When George Fred Keck designed a forward-looking sequel to his 1933 World’s Fair “House of Tomorrow” (inevitably, if unfortunately, dubbed the “House of the Day After Tomorrow”) there’s little chance that he could have foreseen what the the actual future had in store for his speculative creation. Originally built in 1936, the home received an extensive 1990s “renovation” which, according to a recent profile of the place in the Journal, added a second story and ballooned the floorplan to a whopping 15,400 square feet. Which begs the question: how much of a home can you drastically change while still attributing its design to the original architect? A look inside provides an answer, of sorts, where the etched glass, water feature, and recessed lighting scream “I come from the ’90s!” and the only remaining design aspect that can be attributed to Keck is its energy efficiency. The seven-bedroom, nine-and-three-tenths-bathroom manse (what exactly constitutes three-tenths of bathroom? A closet with a sink?) is asking $5.499M.

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/05/fully-renod-house-of-the-day-after-tomorrow-asks-55m.php

Is housing bubbly? There is a lot going on | South Salem NY Homes

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There is a lot going on right now in housing and mortgage markets. But one of the debates that continues to rage on is whether U.S. housing markets are in a bubble or not.

HousingWire’s own monthly HW Magazine talked about it in detail in our January issue.

So too has CNBC’s John Carney, in a post from late last year with the headline: Yep, it’s another housing bubble. And then on January 14 of this year, Peter Wallison at the American Enterprise Institute wrote a breathless op-ed proclaiming: The bubble is back.

But is it really a bubble just because home prices are rising again?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this chart published today by rating agency DBRS in their annual overview of the RMBS market for 2014 suggests that anyone claiming a new housing bubble is simply ignoring the most basic housing fundamental of them all: nominal home prices.

Most markets haven’t yet reached their pricing level highs from the previous cycle, with the exception of two markets that saw the least amount of decline.

Those who want us to think there is a bubble cite the relationship between home prices and rental rates; or look at some calculated measure of affordability. And when those are out of whack, they say it’s a bubble.

But it could be that rental rates are themselves out of whack, not housing prices. And it could be that other variables are affecting affordability rather than just prices, too. Supply and demand factors can do funny things to ratios, all of which need to be read in context.

No analysis should ignore market fundamentals, should it? Can we really be building another housing bubble if home prices in almost every U.S. market right now haven’t even surpassed levels they once were at — even after the strong price rebound we’ve already seen in the previous year?

After five years of a housing economy that has been either horrible or just plain bad, it’s difficult to believe that one good year somehow suddenly puts the nation’s housing markets back into the bubble.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/28599-the-most-important-chart-in-housing-right-now

Runup in Canadian real estate prices reason for worry? | South Salem NY Real Estate

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“If you run a bank,” says Toronto-Dominion Bank CEO Ed Clark, “you should be worried” about the rapid price appreciation seen in all types of Canadian real estate.

Toronto-Dominion Bank has had to say no to financing “a number of big, lucrative” deals Clark said at a bank conference in Toronto, The Globe and Mail’s Tim Kiladze reports. Other execs at the conference say there’s no cause for alarm — delinquencies remain in check, and supply and demand are balanced.

 

 

Source: theglobeandmail.com

Wells Fargo settles Fannie Mae repurchase claims for $541M | South Salem NY Homes

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Wells Fargo will pay Fannie Mae $541 million to settle allegations that many of the mortgages it originated and sold to the mortgage giant before 2009 included false representations and warranties.  When $50 million in loans that Wells Fargo has already repurchased are included, the settlement totals $591 million, Fannie Mae said.

 

Source: fanniemae.com. – See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/wells-fargo-settles-fannie-mae-repurchase-claims-for-541m/?utm_source=20131231&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.35G8mGgb.dpuf

Existing home sales decline 4.3% in November | South Salem NY Homes

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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

New home purchases decrease 18% | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Even while mortgage applications for new home purchases in November were down 18% from October, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the size of the average loan continued to trend upward.

The average loan size for new homes reached $295,523 in November, according to the MBA’s Builder Application Survey.

Since the MBA started publishing the monthly survey this summer, average home loan size has increased more than $12,000 from the June average of $283,000.

The number of new homes sold in November decreased to 32,000, from 40,000 in October.

The MBA estimates that sales of new single-family homes were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 455,000 in November.

By product type, conventional loans composed 66.2% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 19.9%, RHS/USDA loans composed 1.1% and VA loans composed 12.9%.

MBA’s Builder Application Survey tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders across the country.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28282-new-home-purchases-decrease-18