CoreLogic recently reported that the number of underwater homes, properties worth less than what is owed on them, fell from 6.3 million to 5.3 million between the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2014. This change is large and important for the health of the housing market.
After a slow start this year, partly due to the frigidly cold winter, home sales are picking up steam. Existing-home sales have risen for four straight months and in July were at the highest pace of the year, 5.15 million. Pending contracts point to more gains, too.
Jobs are always important for home sales, and in the last 12 months they’ve grown by 2.6 million. North Dakota, Texas, Utah, and parts of California are good examples of job growth leading to healthy real estate activity. Amazingly, mortgage rates refuse to rise, even after the Federal Reserve has started talking about tightening its monetary policy, keeping the recovery intact.
On the verge of retirement, where will those aged 55 and over choose to live? Realtor.com® recently analyzed Nielsen Demographics data to find the metro markets that will see the largest percentage of growth in residents aged 55 and over within the next five years.
Fannie Mae economists have downgraded their housing outlook after a weak end to the second quarter, and they say that near-term indicators are suggesting only a minor improvement in the second half of the year.
“The impact on mortgage rates from the market’s expectation that the Federal Reserve would soon start tapering their securities purchases, combined to some degree with the weather effect in the first half of 2014, led to very little seasonal growth in housing,” says Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s chief economist. “In the first six months of the year, total sales have run below last year’s pace.”
Also, Duncan notes that “on the demand side, there appears to be a conservatism among consumers and their willingness to take on big-ticket purchases, such as homes.”
When it comes to building a booming real estate business, you’ve got to know where the next hot group of buyers and sellers may be focusing their home seeking-attentions. Popular beliefs tell us that millennials—those between the age of 18 and 34—just aren’t buying homes. Right?
Not so fast. The official homeownership rate published by the Census gives a misleading picture of homeownership trends. In fact, homeownership among young adults is not too far off from where demographics say it should be.
And, as it turns out, young adult homeownership is actually on the rise. Is your market poised to become the next hotbed of young homeowners?
Recent Census Bureau findings show that millennials are flocking to big-city suburbs and lower-density cities. Check out these 10 cities, which made the list of the top 10 metros for millennial population growth—they may just be the next hottest real estate for millennial home buyers and sellers!
Home prices were on the rise again last month, but in a stark contrast to last year, price increases were more generalized and less concentrated to just a few metro pockets, according to realtor.com’s May 2014 National Housing Trend Report.
In May, the median list price of homes was $214,900 nationwide, an 8 percent increase year-over-year. All but eight of the 146 markets that realtor.com tracks reported year-over-year price increases in May. “This broad increase in price suggests a more evenly distributed recovery and a healthier national housing market,” reads a realtor.com statement on the findings.
The 48th annual conference for the National Association of Real Estate Editors, held recently in Houston, provided a snapshot of emerging trends in the real estate market.
Would-be buyers in Bellevue and other Eastside communities are going above list prices, waiving inspection and writing flowery letters to sellers. And if they can pay in cash, all the better.
Housing around Western Washington is on an upward trajectory, but inadequate inventory “in the right prices and locations” makes for a “very difficult market for purchasers and brokers,” according to an executive with one multi-office real estate company.
New figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service show inventory increased in May compared to a year ago, but brokers say competition is keen. “Multiple offers and escalation clauses occur on a regular basis for properties that are extremely well priced and in great condition,” reports Dick Beeson, principal managing broker at RE/MAX Professionals in Tacoma.
Mike Gain, a former chairman of the Northwest MLS board of directors, also commented on the bidding wars. “We are experiencing more multiple offers than I have experienced in my 35 years of practicing real estate in this marketplace,” stated Gain, the president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate. “This is a very difficult market for purchasers, our agents and brokers. If we had inventory to handle the demand our pending and sold numbers would be greatly increased,” he believes, adding, “We desperately need good quality inventory.”
Last month’s pending sales topped the 10,000 mark for the first time in twelve months. The number of mutually accepted offers totaled 10,373, outgaining a year ago by 328 transactions for an increase of almost 3.3 percent. Last month’s total was the highest volume of pending sales since June 2006 when brokers tallied 10,448 transactions.
With demand outpacing supply in many parts of the region, brokers are noticing more creativity among competing parties. “Offer review deadlines have become pretty commonplace in this market, as have pre-inspections,” said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate. He said some agents and buyers are getting even more aggressive by submitting their offer prior to the deadline.
Jacobi said there’s also an increase in the number of cash buyers, and buyers willing to waive their financing contingency, “making it even more difficult for the vast majority who don’t have this option.” With ongoing competition likely to continue, Jacobi expects agents and buyers to be “increasingly creative until the market becomes more balanced, which probably isn’t going to happen any time soon.”
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Denver tops the list of more than 140 metros where homes are on the market for the fewest number of days, unseating Oakland, Calif., for that top spot, according to realtor.com’s National Housing Trend Report for March. Oakland had occupied the top spot for the fewest days on the market on realtor.com’s report since November 2013.
The national average for days on the market is 102 days, but in some markets, listings are typically on the market for a month or even less.
Realtor.com’s report shows the following 10 metro areas with the lowest median days on the market…
And see where Seattle is on the list!
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