The Kallhoff Team

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Home Prices Post Biggest Jump in 7 Years

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | WEDNESDAY, JULY 03, 2013

Home prices are moving up at a quicker pace, rising in May by their largest annual amount in more than seven years with more to come, according to the latest report released by CoreLogic.

Home prices increased 2.6 percent in May over April and have shot up 12.2 percent compared to last year’s prices. CoreLogic economists are predicting that home prices will rise by another 2.9 percent in June, making the yearly price gain 13.2 percent year-over-year.

Tight inventories of homes for sale across the nation have pushed home prices higher, according to CoreLogic.

“Home price appreciation, particularly in much of the western half of the U.S., is increasing at a torrid pace,” says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Across the country, pent-up demand and continued low interest rates are fueling strong demand for a limited inventory of properties. We expect that trend to continue to drive up prices throughout the balance of the summer months.”

When including distressed sales, the following five states have seen the highest home appreciation in the past year, according to CoreLogic:

Nevada: +26%
California: +20.2%
Arizona: +16.9%
Hawaii: +16.1%
Oregon: +15.5%

Source: CoreLogic and “Home prices rise by most in seven years in May: CoreLogic,” Reuters (July 2, 2013)

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2013/07/03/home-prices-post-biggest-jump-in-7-years

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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Are Rising Prices Tempting More Home Owners?

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | TUESDAY, JULY 02, 2013

With rising home prices, more home owners are finding they can sell without fear that their mortgage is worth more than their house. The number of sellers coming onto the market is serving as a relief to home buyers who were becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of inventory and increased bidding wars, the Associated Press reports.

It’s a “virtuous circle,” says Mark Fleming, chief economist of CoreLogic, a real estate data provider. “The fact that house prices have increased so dramatically ... has unlocked a lot of that pent-up supply.”

From January to March, about 19.8 percent of homes nationwide with a mortgage are considered “underwater” -- that’s a drop from 23.7 percent a year earlier.

The largest percentage of underwater homes in the nation are often found in the markets with the lowest supply of homes for sale, according to CoreLogic. Tampa Bay, Fla., and Miami have the highest number of underwater mortgages of metro areas at 41.1 percent and 40.7 percent, respectively.

Housing inventories remain constrained in many markets. As of May, there’s a 5.2-month supply of existing homes for sale nationwide, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. One year earlier, the supply of homes stood at 6.4 months.

Some home owners may continue to resist selling despite regaining equity, believing that home prices may rise even more if they wait, economists say. However, economists predict that as inventories increase, home price increases will moderate.

Source: “Home price gains bring ‘underwater’ sellers off sidelines, relieving frustrated buyers,” The Associated Press (June 30, 2013)

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2013/07/02/are-rising-prices-tempting-more-home-owners

Monday, July 1, 2013

Will Rising Rates Lead to Buyer Rush?

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, JULY 01, 2013

Mortgage rates soared to a two-year high last week, rising by the largest pace since 1987. Freddie Mac reported the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed from 3.93 percent to 4.46 percent last week. Some economists are predicting 30-year rates to climb to 4.5 percent and 5 percent over the next 12 months, following the Federal Reserve’s recent announcement that it will soon end a program that has kept interest rates near all-time lows for months.

Home buyers may be concerned that the rising rates will dampen housing affordability. But economists say that rising rates shouldn’t derail the housing market recovery.

"Some people might decide to buy a smaller house in a different area, but you won't see a big decline based just on interest rates," says Jay Brinkmann, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s chief economist. "In the past, you would see a rise in homebuying activity with rate increases. People who are on the fence about buying a home get off the fence in a hurry when rates start to go up.”

As rates have edged up recently, pending home sales have moved up too. They rose 6.7 percent in May from April—at the highest rate since late 2006, the National Association of REALTORS® recently reported.

Analysts also point out that mortgage rates are still low by a historical perspective, even if they do tick up to 5 percent.

"Anything below 6 percent is historically favorable," says Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH, a mortgage data publisher.

Source: “Mortgage Rates Won't Derail Housing Recovery, Analysts Say,” Investors Business Daily (June 27, 2013)

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2013/07/01/will-rising-rates-lead-buyer-rush

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Existing-Home Sales Up in May

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

Existing-home sales improved last month and remain solidly above a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Total existing-home sales, which are completed sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, rose 4.2 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million in May. That number was 4.97 million in April, and is 12.9 percent higher than the 4.59 million-unit pace experienced last May.

May’s existing-home sales numbers are at the highest level since November 2009, when buyers were eager to take advantage of the tax stimulus. However, sales have remained above year-ago levels for 23 months.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says that, while demand is high, the number of homes available for purchase is unlikely to rise anytime soon.

“The housing numbers are overwhelmingly positive. However, the number of available homes is unlikely to grow, despite a nice gain in May, unless new home construction ramps up quickly by an additional 50 percent,” Yun says. “The home price growth is too fast, and only additional supply from new home building can moderate future price growth.”

NAR noted that the median price of existing homes continued to rise by double-digit rates, year-over-year.

Source: NAR

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2013/06/20/existing-home-sales-up-in-may?om_rid=AACssQ&om_mid=_BRwygwB8zb6AJ8&om_ntype=RMODaily

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

12 Turnaround Housing Markets

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2013

Kiplinger Personal Finance recently singled out 12 metro areas’ housing markets as faring the best in 2012. Kiplinger attributed strengthening economies, below-average unemployment rates, and increasing buyer confidence as turning these metros into seller’s markets.

The 12 metros are:

Phoenix
Provo, Utah
Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, Fla.
Minneapolis
Akron, Ohio
Youngstown, Ohio
Seattle, Wash.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Boise, Idaho
San Jose, Calif.
Washington, D.C.
Tucson, Ariz.

“I was really surprised to see some of the cities that ended up on the list,” says Pat Esswein, associate editor for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine. “Provo, Utah, and Salt Lake City surprised me, but these are cities that had very little boom or bust. They plugged along, their economies are growing and their populations are rising. They also have relatively low rates of unemployment.”

Source: “Rising Home Prices: Coming Soon to Your Town?” RISMedia (June 17, 2013)

Read More

7 Housing Markets That Are Roaring Back

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2013/06/18/12-turnaround-housing-markets