Home Sales Jump in October
Home Sales Jump
home sales
The National Association of Realtors® just reported October Pending home sales rose strongly by10.4 percent to 93.3 in October from 84.5 in September and is 9.2 percent above October 2010! Keep in mind that this data reflects contracts but not home closings.
The National Association of Realtors® chief economist, said: “Home sales have been plodding along at a sub-par level while interest rates are hovering at record lows and there is a pent-up demand from buyers who normally would have entered the market in recent years. We hope this is indicates more buyers are taking advantage of the excellent affordability conditions. Many consumers are recognizing that home buyers in the past two years have had one of the lowest default rates in history. Moreover, continued inventory declines are another healthy sign for the housing market.” Read more 
Home Values Drop – Case-Shiller index
Home values drop in most US cities in most recent Case-Shiller index report
Home Values
Home prices dropped in September from August in 17 of the 20 cities tracked by the Case-Shiller Index. The biggest monthly price declines were in Atlanta, San Francisco and Tampa (Florida) . Also, home prices in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix fell to their lowest points since the housing crisis began four years ago.
The only three cities in the index to show any home value increases were in New York, Portland (Oregon) and Washington.
A few of reasons why the home values continue to slide: 1) home prices are still too high in many areas, 2) people have little money to spend, 3) fear – home prices can and will likely go lower, 4) uncertain labor market – people are in staying in a safe mode and saving.
The Revised Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP2)
housing market
HARP and Ideas For A Mortgage Principal Program
I like to clarify some misconceptions about the revised home affordable refinance program talked about in my prior post. Although the operational details are not scheduled to be released until November 15th. It’s clear that this program does not reduce the principal loan balance.
With that cleared up, it still my opinion that when the cost of administration is considered, I am very dubious that this will be a cost-effective program. Sure, it will help out some homeowners and the fact that it is a much more sensible program by having one of the qualification criteria as not being behind on your mortgage payments in the prior six months and only one late payment in the past year, for once, directs benefits to the responsible homeowners. Read more
Home Sales Fall
Home sales
home sales
The National Association of Realtors just released a report today showing that existing home sales fell 3% in September. This puts the existing home sales figures on track to at least match last year’s sales which were the worst in the last past 13 years.the good news in this report, was that even though existing home sales were down for September on a month-to-month basis when one compares the home sales on a yearly basis, the September figures were actually ahead by 11.3%! Read more
Housing Market Good News
housing market
The Commerce Department reported today that U.S. housing starts surged in September at their fastest annual pace in 17 months!
Single-family home construction, which accounts for a larger share of the market, increased 1.7 percent while buildings with two or more units rose 51.3 percent.
The largest increase in housing starts was for multi-family units.
Well, like any good news in today’s housing market, one should be kept in mind that even with this jump in housing starts, the total level of housing starts is still very depressed and has been so for the past three years.
Homeownership Takes Biggest Drop Since Great Depression
Homeownership
The U.S. Census Bureau just released a report that showed the homeownership rate in the U.S. fell to 65.1 percent last year. This is the largest drop since the Great Depression! Now, many believe the U.S. may never return to its mid-decade housing boom peak in which nearly 70 percent of occupied households were owned by their residents.
Also, some are speculating that there is a shift going on where the American dream of homeownership is fading in favor of the idea of the flexibility that renting provides.
Here in San Diego, I would venture to guess that the vast majority of home purchasers from 2005 through 2010 would have been far better off, at least financially if instead of purchasing a home, they had rented one here in San Diego during this time. Read more