Tag Archives: Home Prices

One in four real estate professionals polled by Clear Capital said the BP oil spill has brought home sales to a halt and is pushing already depressed property values lower along the Gulf Coast, with the impact even spreading beyond the coastal region to nearby areas that have seen no physical damage from the environmental catastrophe. Areas of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle are reporting an estimated 5-15 percent decline in home values and a drop in sales volume in June ranging from 25 percent to 33 percent.

Altos Research says its newest housing market report confirms what the company has been saying for some time: the mini-boom of this spring was created by seasonal demand, with some extra help from the federal homebuyer tax credits, but now that those dynamics are gone, ""buyer activity has all but come to a standstill,"" the company says. The analysts at the California-based firm warn that the industry should brace for rapidly rising inventory and continued home price pressures in August and into the fall of 2010.

According to the latest housing statistics from Florida Realtors, statewide sales in existing-home and condo markets have increased for the seventh consecutive quarter compared to year-ago levels. The association's report cites a total of 51,564 existing homes sold statewide in the second quarter of 2010, up 21 percent from the same period last year. Condo sales improved by 45 percent with 20,986 units sold compared to Q2 2009. Median sales prices, though, were not as positive.

CoreLogic reports that home prices in the United States increased in June, marking the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year gains in residential property values. But the company says price appreciation has slowed considerably--a sign that we're likely in for further declines heading into the fall season. According to CoreLogic, national home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 1.4 percent in June compared to a year earlier. That follows a 3.7 percent jump in May. CoreLogic says June's 2.3 percentage point deceleration from May is ""very large by historical standards.""

Foreclosed homes permeate the American landscape. According to data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), they make up about one in 12 houses with under $1 million left on the mortgage. These foreclosures drive down home prices, but it can be hard to determine how much depreciation is caused by the foreclosure and how much is economical factors. One economist from MIT and two Harvard researchers have put a price tag on foreclosures. They've determined that foreclosure itself reduces the value of a home by 27 percent.

Homes prices across the country gained ground in the second quarter, with more metropolitan areas showing increases from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). New data released by the trade group Wednesday shows that during the April to June timeframe, 100 out of 155 metros included in the NAR survey had higher median existing-home prices compared to the second quarter of 2009, including 14 with double-digit increases. NAR say it's evidence that the trend of firming home prices is solidifying.

The chances of home prices falling further lessened in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the previous quarter, according to a new study from mortgage insurer the PMI Group. The company's U.S. Market Risk Index assesses the probability that the price of homes will be lower at the end of the next two years, and it dropped by nearly two full basis points. It was the third consecutive quarterly decrease in the overall reading, and PMI says it signals ""continued improvement in the housing market.""

Integrated Asset Services (IAS) is reporting a modest second quarter price gain for the U.S. housing market. The valuation company's latest IAS360 index shows a 1.1 percent increase in home prices nationally for the three-month period ending in June. But despite the April tax credit and the arrival of the springtime buying season giving at least a short term lift to prices, IAS says its neighborhood trend lines indicate that house prices around the nation are still looking for a bottom.

Could the U.S. economy slip back into the throes of the recession that nearly crippled the nation's financial system and protracted any semblance of a housing recovery? The analysts at Moody's think so. They say the odds of a near-term double-dip recession have increased to one in four. And they warn that if the economy sinks back into recession, housing activity will follow. If such a scenario were to play out, Moody's says home prices are likely to fall by another 20 percent before they stabilize in early 2012.

The percentage of borrowers underwater on their mortgage declined during the second quarter, but that welcome change of pace could come to an abrupt end as home values are again beginning to fall in markets across the country. Zillow reported Monday that as of the end of June, 21.5 percent of single-family homeowners with a mortgage owed more on the loan than their home is worth. That's down from 23.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, and 23 percent during the second quarter of 2009.