Tag Archives: Home Prices

New data released by RealtyTrac Thursday shows that foreclosure and REO homes accounted for 24 percent of all residential sales during the second quarter. A total of 248,534 properties in default, scheduled for auction, or repossessed by the bank sold to third parties during the April to June timeframe. RealtyTrac says on average, these homes went for a discount of 26 percent. The second-quarter share of foreclosure sales is up nearly 5 percent from the previous quarter, but still down 20 percent compared to the second quarter of 2009.

It's no secret that the volume of distressed residential properties is weighing heavy on U.S. housing markets and prolonging any meaningful recovery. Of even greater concern is the industry's growing backlog of homes that need to be liquidated and resold but have yet to make their way to the market. Standard & Poor's has just released a new report in which it estimates that the principal balance of this shadow inventory now stands at $460 billion and will take the industry about 41 months to clear.

Home prices rose again in July, according to one of the industry's most closely watched gauges of property value trends. The S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday showed a 0.6 percent increase in the average price of a single-family home across the 20 major U.S. cities included in the study. S&P says, though, that annual growth rates have slowed considerably. During the month of July, 16 of the 20 metros saw their annual gains retreat.

The Texas metro areas of Houston and Dallas show the strongest home price appreciation over the next 12 months in the most recent market forecast from Veros Real Estate Solutions. The company says its analysis shows Texas cities leading the nation, with home prices in these areas expected to post the biggest gains in the months ahead. Meanwhile, key markets in Florida and Nevada will likely see home prices drop another 6-7 percent over the next year.

Sales figures for previously owned homes rose in August following a big correction in July, according to data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Thursday. The trade group's existing-home sales report showed a 7.6 percent increase in transactions during the month, bumping the annualized sales pace to 4.13 million homes and reducing for-sale inventory to an 11.6-months supply. The sales share of distressed homes rose to 34 percent last month. Analysts say the results are in line with expectations but disappointing, nonetheless.

The analysts at Moody's are downbeat in their outlook for both the U.S. economy and the housing market. They warn that the there's a stronger chance the country will slide back into a recession, and they are forecasting a longer and deeper housing correction. Because of weak housing demand, soft job creation, and the slow speed at which the industry is working through distressed mortgages, Moody's says recovery is already back-sliding into a double-dip. The agency expects house prices to fall until the third quarter of next year.

Fannie Mae has conducted a poll of both homeowners and renters to gauge consumers' attitudes toward housing in the U.S. The results indicate that Americans have become more cautious about buying a home, though most believe the market has bottomed out. Rents are expected to increase more than home prices, and Fannie says mortgage borrowers, and even underwater borrowers, are less discouraged about homeownership than delinquent borrowers and renters.

CoreLogic released its Home Price Index Wednesday, which showed that residential property values in the United States remained flat in July as transaction volumes continued to decline. It was the first time in five months that CoreLogic reported no year-over-year gains, and the company says a growing number of declining markets underscore weakness in the housing market without tax-credit support. Home prices actually fell in 36 states in July, the highest number since last November when national home prices were steadily declining.

HUD released a new survey of New Orleans area housing conditions this week. The agency says its the most comprehensive analysis of the metro's housing stock since the department's last assessment in 2004 (prior to Hurricane Katrina). In the five years since Hurricane Katrina struck the area, the New Orleans metro lost 75,000 housing units, nearly 13 percent of its housing stock, and the median monthly cost of housing rose by nearly 33 percent from $662 in 2004 to $882 in 2009.

Home prices have hit upon relatively stable ground in recent months -- a welcome reprieve from the freefall days most markets had grown acutely accustomed to after the reverberating bursting of the housing bubble. But that stability may be fleeting fast. If you heed the words of the seers keeping a close watch over industry trends and movements in price lines, you should be bracing for another decline in property values, as the elusive floor drops a little lower.