Tag Archives: Westchester Homes for Sale

Westchester Homes for Sale

Increasing mortgage rates will not ruin the housing recovery | Katonah Real Estate

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Although the era of low mortgages rates are beginning to dwindle away, the housing market is still projected to keep recovering, an article in CNN Money said.

The article explains that higher mortgage rates will not derail the housing market for three reasons.

First, interest rates alone do not drive up home prices, with additional factors like unemployment factoring in.

Additionally, investors armed with cash played a large part in the recovery by buying a lot of foreclosed properties with cash, foregoing the need for a mortgage.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates are still low historically.

Rates are close to what they were in Spring 2012, and people thought the rates were amazingly low then, the article said.

 

Increasing mortgage rates will not ruin the housing recovery | HousingWire.

Surging home sales stir new housing bubble fears | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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There are differences between this run-up in prices and the housing bubble that preceded the financial crisis, said Gary Thomas, theNational Association of Realtors‘ president.

“The boom period was marked by easy credit and overbuilding, but today we have tight mortgage credit and widespread shortages of homes for sale,” Thomas said. The improved housing market and mortgage rates still near record lows, despite a recent rise in rates, is pulling buyers back in the market faster than it’s prompting sellers to put homes on the market. Buyer traffic 29% above a year ago, but the supply of homes for sale is actually down 10%, writes CNNMoney.

 

Surging home sales stir new housing bubble fears | HousingWire.

Forget about Marketing: Concentrate on Blogging | Armonk Realtor

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Well, recently it seems like a lot of bloggers fancy themselves as marketers. You can’t read a post on a blog without seeing a load of other bloggers commenting at the bottom, with a link back to their own site. Of course other bloggers use black hat SEO tricks and other shady tactics in order to drive traffic to their blog. Each to their own you might say, but at the end of the day life can be much, much easier.

If you publish blog content that’s truly awesome, everyone else will market your blog for you.

If you seem to spend half your life trying to promote your blog with your efforts never coming to fruition, now’s the time to stop. There’s a reason why things aren’t working out – and you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s the actual content in your blog posts.

Sorry to have to break it to you, but your blog posts suck.

 

Forget about Marketing: Concentrate on Blogging : @ProBlogger.

Florida’s Foreclosure-fatigued Families Flee | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Some 20 percent of owners of properties making their way through the torturous foreclosure process are abandoning their homes rather than hoping for a miracle or waiting until the bitter end eventually comes.

RealtyTrac released a report today showing that as of June owners had vacated 167,680 foreclosure properties nationwide, representing 20 percent of all U.S. properties in the foreclosure process. These owner-vacated foreclosures are in addition to 544,274 bank-owned homes nationwide that have been foreclosed on but not sold to a third party.

In addition more than 650,000 homes in the foreclosure process have not been vacated by the homeowner but are likely to end up as short sales, foreclosure auction sales or bank-owned sales in the future, bringing total foreclosure-related inventory on RealtyTrac to nearly 1.4 million.

“Efforts to prevent unnecessary foreclosures and mitigate their impact on home values have resulted in a foreclosure process that takes an average of 477 days nationwide, and more than two years in some states – which is holding many of these must-sell properties off the market,” Blomquist said.

“Even if all these homes flooded the market simultaneously they would likely not cause the once-feared double dip in prices given supply constraints from non-distressed sellers and stronger demand. Given these market dynamics, it’s not surprising to see that Florida, Illinois and New Jersey – states with three of the four longest foreclosure timelines – have all had laws take effect in the last six months that speed up the foreclosure process on vacant properties. These laws should help provide some extra supply and possibly help reduce the threat of another housing price bubble forming in these markets.”

Of the total 167,680 vacant foreclosure properties nationwide, Florida documented the most by far of any state, with 55,503, fully 33 percent of the national total. Illinois posted the second highest total (17,672), followed by California (9,802), Ohio (9,723), and New York (9,173).

 

Florida’s Foreclosure-fatigued Families Flee | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

May home sales up 4.2%; median price up 15.4% | South Salem Real Estate

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Existing home sales improved in May but the supply of homes for sale remains tight — which isn’t good news for buyers, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Total existing home sales increased 4.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million in May from 4.97 million in April, NAR said. That’s the highest rate since November 2009 and almost 13% above year-ago levels.

The inventory of homes for sale, meanwhile, dipped to a 5.1 month supply, down from 5.2 months in April. That means all the homes would sell in that time frame if no new supply was added and sales continued at May’s pace. Realtors consider a 6-month supply to be a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

Total housing inventory at the end of May was up 3.3% to 2.22 million existing homes for sale.

Despite last month’s “nice” gain in homes for sale, the supply is unlikely to grow unless home building ramps up by an additional 50%, says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.

Homes are also selling fast. The median time on market for all homes was 41 days in May, down from 46 in April.

Nationwide, 45% of all homes sold in May were on the market for less than a month, NAR says.

Single-family home sales rose 5% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.6 million and are almost 13% above the year ago pace.

 

May home sales up 4.2%; median price up 15.4%.

Home resales rise to three-and-half year high; prices jump | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Home resales rose in May to the highest level in 3-1/2 years and prices jumped, a sign the housing sector recovery is gathering steam and could give the economy a significant boost this year.

The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday that existing home sales advanced 4.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.18 million units, the highest level since November 2009 when a home-buyer tax credit was expiring.

“Whatever inventory is coming onto the market, buyers are ready to snap it up,” said Lawrence Yun, an economist at the NAR.

The increase beat expectations for a rise to a 5 million-unit rate last month.

The housing market is one of the brightest spots in America’s economyand is helping counter Washington’s decision to raise tax rates and cut government spending this year.

A very accommodative monetary policy by the Federal Reserve, which has held mortgage rates near record lows, is helping to lift the housing marketoff the floor. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, however, gave clear signals on Wednesday that the Fed was on track to start dialing back its stimulus by the end of this year.

In May, the median home sales price increased a whopping 15.4 percent from a year ago to $208,000. That was the biggest year-over-year increase since 2005 and left prices at their highest level since July 2008.

“Prices have recovered quite suddenly and quite spectacularly,” Yun said.

With prices rising, more sellers put their properties on the market, lifting the inventory of unsold homes on the market 3.3 percent from April to 2.22 million.

 

Still, the stock of homes for sale continues to be tight in the market. The May level of inventories represented just 5.1 months’ supply at May’s sales pace, down from 5.2 in April. Many economists consider 6.0 months to be a healthy balance between supply and demand.

 

Home resales rise to three-and-half year high; prices jump | Reuters.

Study finds same-sex couples face housing bias | Bedford Real Estate

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Conducting the first study of its kind, the Department of Housing and Urban Development studied 50 metropolitan markets from June to October 2011 and concluded that same-sex couples were “significantly less likely than heterosexual couples to get favorable responses to e-mail inquiries about electronically advertised rental housing.”

More specifically, “heterosexual couples were favored over gay male couples in 15.9% of tests and over lesbian couples in 15.6% of tests,” writes MSNBC.

 

Study finds same-sex couples face housing bias | HousingWire.

Texas homebuyer demographic shifts from singles to marrieds | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Texas homebuyers are buying more new homes and they’re finding them faster, according to the Texas Association of Realtors. This indicates a steadily growing, competitive housing market in The Lone Star State. 

Shad Bogany, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors, said, “This report affirms the Texas real estate industry as a driving force in our state’s economy. More new homes are being built and homes are selling faster, which bodes well for our thriving Texas housing market and our economy’s future.”

In 2012, 26% of all homes purchased in Texas were new. Additionally, Texas homebuyers only spent eight weeks looking for a home prior to making their purchase. Compared to Texas, only 16% of homes nationwide were new homes and homebuyers spent an extra month searching for the right property.

It seems that the makeup of Texas homebuyers has shifted as well, with 69% of homebuyers being married couples, compared to 65% nationally. This marks the highest share since 2001.

Conversely, the share of homebuyers classified as “single” hit the lowest level since 2001, with singles representing only 16% of Texas homebuyers and 15% nationwide. 

Bogany explained, “The recession led to tighter credit and lending standards across the U.S., which is why you’re seeing less individual home buyers. For many, it required a dual income to afford a home in 2012.” 

 

Texas homebuyer demographic shifts from singles to marrieds | HousingWire.

Inventory Increases Threaten Price Appreciation | Armonk Real Estate

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The inventory deficit that jump started the recovery is now filling up fast with new listings as home sellers get the message. But are just hastening the day prices slow down?

The current January to April year-to-year to date increase in the supply of existing homes is the third highest in nearly 30 years writes CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist Sam Khater in the current issue of CoreLogic’s Market Pulse newsletter.

“How much further can the rapidly appreciating markets go?” he asked, noting that most states are currently close to their fundamental long-term price trends relative to long term inflation-adjusted trend.

Khater suggested that the “invisible lid that has been on supply” is in the process of being removed. A key factor has been the fact that more homeowners not only are above water but also have reached or exceeded their “reservation price”-the price lowest price at which an owner is willing to sell. “For homeowners with positive equity, the reservation price condition is met when their willingness to sell is at a higher price than the market currently supports.

 

Inventory Increases Threaten Price Appreciation | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.

April home prices rise at a faster pace | Katonah Real Estate

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U.S. home prices continued their upward trajectory in April, rising 0.7% from March, according to data from the latest FNC Residential Price Index. The gain in April marks the largest price appreciation since June 2012, due largely to rising demand in the spring and summer.

More credit availability, interest rates that remain low despite quickly rising and low home prices are driving forces behind the housing recovery. Rising interest rates have most likely drawn out additional pent-up demand. 

Foreclosure activity continued to decline, with distressed sales making up only 16% of total home sales, down from 17.8% in March and 21.6% a year earlier, FNC noted.

When analyzing non-distresses properties in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, the FNC 100-MSA composite index reveals that April home prices increased faster when compared to previous months.

Year-over-year, home prices rose 4.6% in April. For months, the indices have been revised downward, resulting in more moderate annual price accelerations.

Of the component markets tracked by the FNC 30-MSA composite index, 25 showed higher prices in April, with home prices up 1.0% or more in nearly a third of the markets.

 

April home prices rise at a faster pace | HousingWire.