Market Studies

It may not have been a fiscal cliff, but how about a fiscal mudslide? The deal reached by Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and forced down the throats of House Republicans (without involving their leader, Speaker John Boehner) wound up to be a glorified version of kicking the can down the road--a short road, as the next ""crisis"" comes in just two months, when the nation runs up against the debt ceiling. Too many words have already been written about the crises manufactured by setting arbitrary deadlines.

Despite the steady increase in home prices in 2012, Fitch Ratings says it ""remains cautious"" in its outlook on home values. According to a report from the ratings agency, home prices have risen ""at their greatest pace since 2005,"" but in certain markets, technical factors rather than ""fundamentals"" acted as the driving force behind the price gains over the past few quarters. Fitch explained technical factors such as low mortgage rates, the tight supply of existing homes for sale, and weak levels of new home construction are leading to affordability and driving demand while ""offsetting weak fundamentals.""

Natural disasters have broad impacts on communities and economies, starting with physical damage and trickling down to businesses and investors. Each year, CoreLogic releases a Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis, reviewing the most significant natural disasters of the year. Destruction from Hurricane Sandy could cost as much as $50 billion, and in just the state of New Jersey, an estimated 72,000 homes were damaged, according to CoreLogic.

Rents continue to rise but at a slightly less accelerated pace, according to Carrolton, Texas-based RealPage, a software provider for rental communities. After rents for new leases rose 4.8 percent in 2011, rents rose 3 percent in 2012. While lower than the previous year's rate, the increase in 2012 remained above the average of 2.5 percent seen over the past 20 years. Apartment rents did experience some decline during the recession, falling 4 percent, but they have now been on the rise for three years, according to RealPage.

The nation’s unemployment rate remained at 7.8 percent in December as payrolls increased 155,000, slightly ahead of consensus forecasts, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Economists had forecast payrolls would grow by 150,000, slightly higher than the 146,000 increase in payrolls originally reported for November, and that the unemployment rate would remain at November's 7.7 percent.

The results of the Census Bureau's and HUD's American Housing Survey are now available for the first time ever via the Census' American FactFinder data access tool, the agencies announced Thursday. The survey covers a wide range of topics, including housing problems, householder's satisfaction with home and neighborhood, purchase price and type of mortgage, and socio-economic characteristics of the householder. Statistics are provided on the national level for apartments, single-family homes, manufactured housing, new construction, and vacant housing units.

In Q3 2012, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed about 134,200 foreclosure prevention actions, according to a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Of that total, 62,500 foreclosure prevention actions were through loan modifications, and 38,000 were from short sales and deeds-in-lieu. Overall, since the start of their conservatorship in September 2008, the GSEs have completed 2.5 million foreclosure prevention actions.

Completed foreclosures in Massachusetts fell year-over-year for the sixth consecutive month in November, while foreclosure petitions were down to the lowest level seen so far this year.

The year 2012 was a big year for certain markets as prices grew by leaps and bounds after seeing declines in 2011. On Thursday, Trulia released a report revealing changes in asking prices in 2011 and 2012 among the 100 largest metros. After measuring improvements over the two years, Trulia ranked Las Vegas as the top turnaround market based on its recovery in asking prices. Trulia also found nine out of the top 10 turnaround markets were located West and Southwest, and the top six saw double digit increases.

After going into free-fall for much of 2012, fixed mortgage rates started off 2013 with very slight declines, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The average 30-year fixed rate was 3.34 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending January 3, down from 3.35 percent in the last week of 2012. The average 30-year fixed rate was 3.91 percent at the beginning of last year. The 15-year fixed average also fell, sliding to 2.64 percent (0.7 point) from 2.65 percent previously. A year ago at this time, the 15-year fixed rate averaged 3.23 percent.