Real Estate News & Notes

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

CoreLogic: National foreclosure activity drops in October - Charlotte Business Journal

Home-foreclosure activity nationwide slowed in October from a year earlier, according to the latest report on from data firm CoreLogic Inc.

CoreLogic (NYSE:CLGX) says 58,000 foreclosures were completed last month across the country, down from 70,000 during October 2011.

About 1.3 million homes, or 3.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were counted among the nation’s foreclosure inventory in October, according to the report. That was down from 1.5 million homes, or 3.6 percent, a year ago.

“A lower foreclosure inventory is a good indicator of improving housing markets,”Anand Nallathambi, president and chief executive of CoreLogic, says in the report. “The downward trend in foreclosure inventories over the past year is yet another signal that a recovery in housing is gaining traction.”

In North Carolina, foreclosure inventory made up 2.3 percent of the total number of mortgages in the state in October. More than 28,000 foreclosures were completed in the state during the month.

The most recent figures available on foreclosure activity in the local market are for September. For that month, the foreclosure rate for the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metro area was 3.2 percent.

CoreLogic’s most recent data for home prices in the Charlotte area show a year-over-year increase of 2.7 percent in Septemberwith distressed sales excluded. Overall home prices for the month were up 3.9 percent.

The data firm says the housing market is clearly in recovery and is likely to boost the nation’s GDP in 2012 and 2013.

Area home prices up from last year | CharlotteObserver.com

Charlotte-area homeowners can rejoice in another batch of good news.

A report released Tuesday by CoreLogic shows local single-family home prices rose 4.4 percent in October, compared to the previous year.

Nationally, home prices fared even better – rising an annual 6.3 percent in October, the largest yearly gain since July 2006.

North Carolina posted a modest 1.8 percent annual increase, while South Carolina, which has been harder hit by foreclosures, saw a 7.1 percent increase in single-family home prices compared to October 2011.

The report follows last week’s release of another indicator, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which showed Charlotte-area home prices rose 3.5 percent annually.

Both the Case Shiller index and CoreLogic’s index track repeat sales of the same single-family homes.

Tuesday’s report bolsters other news and a growing belief by industry observers that the housing market is in the midst of a recovery.

“We are seeing an ongoing strengthening of the residential housing market,” CoreLogic President and CEO Anand Nallathambi said in a statement. “Reduced inventories and improving buyer demand are contributing to stability and growth in home prices, which is essential to the long term health of the housing market and the broader economy.”

On a monthly basis, Charlotte home prices fell 0.6 percent in October compared to September. Nationally, prices fell 0.2 percent in October from September. The figures are not seasonally adjusted. CoreLogic and local housing experts have attributed the monthly decline to the end of the popular summer home-buying season.

The report also shows the recovery may be broadening as more metropolitan areas are showing improvement. Prices rose in 45 states in October, up from 43 in September. Of the top 100 metro areas covered by the analytics firm, 17 showed year-over-year declines in October, four fewer than in September.

Locally, real estate agents say home prices have been helped by a relatively small number of homes on the market, which can boost sales prices. The Carolina Multiple Listing Services Inc. shows Charlotte-area housing inventory has fallen to a six-month supply, considered a healthy level.

Nationally, the National Association of Realtors says the number of available homes is at its lowest level in 10 years.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/12/05/3706255/area-home-prices-up-from-last.html#storylink=cpy

Thursday, November 29, 2012

S&P/Case-Shiller: 'Safe' To Say We're In Housing Recovery - The Home Front (usnews.com)

Home values continued to climb in September, marking the sixth consecutive month of increasing home prices, a widely-followed price index reported Tuesday. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices also reported prices continued to strengthen quarter-over-quarter, with national prices almost 4 percent higher than third quarter numbers last year, and more than 2 percent above last quarter.

"With six months of consistently rising home prices, it is safe to say that we are now in the midst of a recovery in the housing market," David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a release.

A combination of low but improving home prices, surging rents, and rock-bottom mortgage rates have all played a role in luring would-be homebuyers back to the American real estate market and juicing demand. The share of distressed properties (which tend to sell at deep discounts and weigh down home prices) has also been steadily falling.

"The reason prices are rising is simple: the law of supply of and demand," Glenn Kelman, CEO of Seattle-based real estate website Redfin, wrote in an E-mail. "When Redfin's agents talk to homeowners about listing their place, most decide that time is now on their side, and want to wait until prices improve more. So there's hardly anything for sale. And because prices are fairly low, and interest rates are very low, demand is up. With rents at five-year highs, even the folks who hadn't planned on buying a home are reconsidering."

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The result has been bidding wars on reasonably-priced properties in hot real estate markets such as San Francisco, Phoenix, and Washington D.C., Kelman says.

But despite marked broad-based improvement in prices, the Case-Shiller indices remain roughly 30 percent off their 2006 peaks. Furthermore, headline index numbers aren't seasonally adjusted and the housing market is heading into the slow winter months. Experts also expect foreclosures to make up a larger portion of sales in coming months.

"September will likely be the last hurrah for Case-Shiller in 2012 in terms of monthly gains," Stan Humphries, chief economist at real estate website Zillow wrote in an E-mail. "We expect the monthly numbers to be negative for the balance of the year, due to seasonality and increased prevalence of foreclosures in the sales mix."

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On the bright side, the coming pullback in monthly numbers isn't a cause for concern because the indices will still end up more than 3 percent above prices seen a year ago, "clear evidence of a durable housing recovery," Humphries adds.

Why Housing Can Still Pull the United States Out of Economic Doldrums - The Home Front (usnews.com)

After years of hindering economic growth, housing added to Gross Domestic Product in 2012, an important reversal given the sector's key role in pulling the nation's economy out of the doldrums in past recessions.

But while the real estate market has seen marked improvement, further growth in housing depends on access to credit for home buying and home building. Typically, the residential real estate industry leads into a recession with declines in activity as interest rates rise and households delay making big-ticket purchases. However, the sector then leads the economy out of a recession as interest rates fall, household formations increase, and home buying accelerates.

Housing did not play this traditional economic function immediately in the wake of the Great Recession, in part because historic price declines significantly reduced the wealth of American households. This has led to a slow but necessary process of household balance sheet repair, which has produced a recovery characterized by lackluster job growth and reduced household formation, both important drivers of housing demand.

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However, while the rest of the economy slowed in 2012, housing began to assume its leading role in providing outsized contributions of economic growth during a recovery. According to Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates, housing's share of GDP stood at a little more than 15 percent as of the third quarter 2012. Of that total, nearly 3 percentage points, is due to residential fixed investment (RFI)—the construction of new single-family and multifamily housing units, remodeling and improvements to existing homes, and brokers' commissions for the sale of housing. While the share of GDP due to housing services remains relatively constant year to year, changes in RFI can have large consequences for the overall health of the economy. In more typical periods such as the year 2000, the share of GDP due to RFI was 5.2 percent, almost twice what it is today.

Driven by significant increases in housing construction, these economic gains are producing an increasingly broad-based recovery in housing, with one third of housing markets now considered to be improving. As RFI returns to its historical trend, GDP will continue to grow and more jobs will be created in the housing industry. In fact, RFI may generate more than 20 percent of total GDP growth in the final quarter of 2012, given higher construction starts and seven consecutive months of improvement in home builder confidence.

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But risks remain, including access to credit for buyers and builders, rising material costs, and policy proposals that would reduce housing demand. Some areas of the country are suffering from shortages of workers with necessary construction skills, which could also raise costs and inhibit further expansion in building.

Overall, the return of housing as a source of economic growth is something to be thankful for as 2012 comes to a close. It also represents an economic trend to watch as policy debates concerning the fiscal cliff and possible 2013 tax reform grow. With prudent policymaking, housing can continue to yield a virtuous cycle of job creation and additional housing demand.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Charlotte home prices fall in September but up for year | CharlotteObserver.com

Home prices rose 3 percent in September compared to last year according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, further proof that the housing market is on the rebound.

In Charlotte, home prices fell in September compared to August, ending a six-month streak of consecutive gains. On an annual basis, however, local home prices rose 3.5 percent compared with September 2011, supporting local experts’ belief that the housing market is steadily improving.

Nationally, U.S. home prices rose 0.3 percent in September from August.

Thirteen of the 20 cities tracked by the index posted monthly gains in September and two cities were flat. Charlotte, with a monthly drop of 0.3 percent, was among five cities that posted declines, according to seasonally non-adjusted figures. The others were Boston, Chicago, New York and Cleveland, which posted the index’s worst monthly drop of 0.9 percent.

The index committee attributed some of the drop to seasonal changes, noting the housing market was entering its traditionally slow time.

“It is safe to say that we are now in the midst of a recovery in the housing market,” Index committee chairman David Blitzer said in a statement.

The report is the latest to shed a positive light on the housing market.

Earlier this month, CoreLogic released its home price index showing U.S. prices rose 5 percent in September, the largest year-over-year increase since July 2006. In the Charlotte-Rock Hill-Gastonia metropolitan area, single-family home prices increased 3.9 percent, or 2.7 percent excluding distressed sales.

Charlotte had been posting regular monthly gains in the Case-Shiller data, rising 0.6 percent in August over July.

Nationally, reports have showed improvements in new home construction, home-builder confidence and existing home sales.

The biggest gainer in Tuesday’s Case-Shiller report was Phoenix, where prices soared more than 20 percent in September compared to the same time last year.

While the housing market is improving, home prices remain well off their 2006 peaks. In some cases, prices are 30 percent below what they were. There are also concerns mortgages will remain difficult for borrowers to get, despite historically low interest rates.

The widely watched Case-Shiller report lags two months. It is one of the most precise measures of home values because it tracks repeat sales of houses. Like stock market indices, it reflects changes in price, not an actual price.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/11/28/3691126/charlotte-home-prices-fall-in.html#storylink=cpy

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

NAR Research: Infographic: How Well Do You Know the Home Buyer and Seller Trends of 2012? | realtor.org

Home sales climb 2% in October - Nov. 19, 2012

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The pace of sales for previously owned homes rose in October, despite the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, in the latest sign of improvement for the long-battered housing market.

Existing home sales rose to an annual rate of 4.79 million, seasonally adjusted, the National Association of Realtors reported on Monday. That's up 2.1% from September, when the revised annual rate of existing home sales was 4.69 million. And it's an increase of 11% year-over-year, when the annual rate was 4.32 million. That was also stronger than the forecast from analysts at Briefing.com, which called for an annual rate of 4.7 million existing home sales in October.

The National Association of Realtors said sales had gone up nationwide, "even with some regional impact from Hurricane Sandy," the deadly storm that caused massive disruptions in the Northeast at the end of October.

Lawrence Yun, the association's chief economist, said the market is being driven by "growing demand with limited inventory" but it could run into strong headwinds from Sandy going forward.

"We expect an impact on Northeastern home sales in the coming months ... in storm-impacted regions," he said.

Home buyers are being lured by low mortgage rates. Last week, mortgage rates dropped again, pushing 15-year and 30-year fixed-rated loans to record lows.

Also, the National Association of Realtors said last week that the median down payment has sunk to 9% for home buyers this year, its lowest level since 2009.

Meanwhile, home prices have been inching up. The average home price in 20 major citiesedged up 0.9% in August, according to the most recent figures from the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.

Keith Gumbinger, vice president of mortgage information website HSH, said the rising sales are "a signal to fence-sitters that the market is beginning to shift, and that waiting may not yield them any lower costs."