Low inventory and interest rates are why Realtors call Seattle one of the most competitive housing markets in the country.
“Good houses are disappearing instantly, you look at it one day online and say honey maybe we should look at this Sunday. By then, it’s already pending,” said Charles Harper, a home buyer.
According to the Northwest Listing Service, the median price of homes in Snohomish County is up 14 percent, and up 10 percent in both King and Pierce Counties.
Many real estate professionals have been blaming low appraisals for derailing transactions over the last few years. But now home prices are heating up across the country. Are appraisals still coming in lower than the agreed-upon sales price?
Even with prices rising and the number of foreclosures falling, some appraisers say assigning a value to a property isn’t getting any easier. One of the big reasons, they say, is because of low inventories in many markets. “An undersupply of available homes has prompted bidding wars above list price, a price that isn’t necessarily justified by an appraisal,” The Chicago Tribune reports.
There is a new breed of quick-change artist on the real-estate front: luxury flippers who focus on high-end properties.
Popular before the housing bust, house flipping—where a property is bought, renovated and sold quickly to make a profit—is seeing a comeback nationwide. Rising prices and tight inventory are driving more investors to the upper end of the market. Flips of homes priced at $1 million or more shot up 35% in 2012 compared with 2011, according to market researcher RealtyTrac.
Surging mortgage rates may have little effect on the housing market, at least in the near term, housing experts say. Mortgage rates rose sharply last week following comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will begin tapering off its asset purchases later this year if incoming data continues to show the economy is on the mend.
Home prices have been soaring by double digits compared to last year’s numbers and the National Association of REALTORS® are calling the rises “unsustainable.”
The price for existing home sales surged 15.4 percent higher in May compared to last year.
“Some of the increases can be explained by the fact that it is recovering from an over-corrected situation,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “But with people’s income rising at only 1 or 2 percent and prices rising in double digits, it cannot continue.”
Like anything else, real estate has its urban legends, its stories that get told so often they seem like they must be true. But unlike urban legends about exploding Pop Rocks, housing market myths have the potential to cause panic, poor decisions, and substantial financial losses. The recent market upturn, coming on the heels of 6 years of near-depression, has given rise to a long list of real estate myths. Don’t get lost in the legends — find out what’s fact and what’s fiction.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says mortgage rates will continue to rise.
Read his latest blog post to learn how that could impact home sales.
If you’re considering buying a home, you might want to know whether you’re in a buyers or sellers market.
Tight inventory favors sellers in the Southwest, while buyers have the upper hand in some Midwestern and Eastern cities.
Read the details here, and see where Seattle is on the list!
Americans’ confidence in their ability to buy and sell a home climbed sharply in May, likely due to reports of strong home price gains, according to results from Fannie Mae’s May 2013 National Housing Survey. The share of respondents who say now is a good time to sell a home reached a record high.
Mortgage rates are on their way back up.
U.S. household net worth just hit an all-time high.
These are among the reasons why Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff says it’s now time to sell your house.
Managing The Real Estate Details 