Tag Archives: Home Sales

While year-over-year home price measurements notched down in 2011, prices are expected to see a slight uptick in 2012, according to Clear Capital. Should the valuation company's predictions ring true, it would be the first time since 2006 that the change in annual home prices has landed in positive territory. Data released by Clear Capital Monday shows year-over-year, national home prices dropped 2.1 percent in 2011. For 2012, the company projects a slight gain of 0.2 percent.

The Federal Reserve is throwing its support behind a large-scale REO-to-rental program to address the oversupply of vacant homes and prevent property values from falling further. The Fed notes that in contrast to the market for owner-occupied homes, rental housing is strengthening. Officials say a government-facilitated program has the potential to help the housing market and improve loss recoveries. They've identified specific markets with large concentrations of vacant REOs, where bulk sales to investors make sense.

Fixed mortgage rates started the year at or near their all-time record lows. Data from Freddie Mac shows the interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 3.91 percent for the week ending January 5, 2012, matching the record low set just two weeks earlier. This marks the fifth consecutive week the 30-year rate has come in below the 4.00 percent mark. The 15-year fixed-rate is averaging 3.23 percent, just two basis points above its all-time low hit in December.

Pending home sales continued to rise in November, reaching their highest level in 19 months, the National Association of Realtors reported. The trade group's index of signed sales contracts jumped 7.3 percent between October and November and is 5.9 percent above its level a year earlier. The last time the index was higher was in April 2010 as buyers rushed to beat the deadline for the homebuyer tax credit. Analysts say the results are likely to feed the view that there is a recovery going on in the housing market.

Data released last week by Standard & Poor's indicates the fourth quarter of 2011 started with broad-based declines in home prices. The 20-city composite of S&P's closely watched Case-Shiller index was down 1.2 percent in October versus September. Home prices dropped in 19 of the 20 cities covered by the S&P/Case-Shiller Index. Phoenix was the only metro to see a month-over-month increase. Looking at the year-over-year comparisons, S&P says home prices are down more than 3 percent.

Mortgage rates will likely remain very low, at least through mid-2012, according to Freddie Mac. Rates on 30-year conforming mortgages have hovered around 4.0 percent or lower for the past quarter. The GSE says that in large part due to the Federal Reserve's program for extending the maturity date for mortgage securities it holds. This program is expected to continue through the middle of next year and should keep fixed rates for 15- through 30-year mortgages elatively low during the first half of the year.

Despite record low mortgage rates, 2011 has seen a surprisingly high level of cash home purchases, according to the real estate research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. Analysts with the company say between tight lending standards and a desperate search for yield by investors, cash purchases of homes - particularly for distressed properties - are becoming more common. The company's study found 38 percent of homes purchased in 2011 were bought with all cash.

The year 2011 is ending on a high note as economists anticipate some positive movement in the housing market. Prices appear to be reaching their trough, visible supply is on the decline, and banks are beginning just slightly to loosen lending standards, according to a fourth-quarter report from Capital Economics. However, the research firm warns these positive signs do not point to an immediate recovery, particularly with housing undervalued by the most it's been since at least 1975.

Mortgage interest rates continue to head south. Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average 30-year fixed-mortgage rate sank to 3.91 percent this week, setting a new all-time record low. Adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) products also hit new record lows. The 15-year fixed rate settled in to match last week's historic low at 3.21 percent. To put the declines into perspective, Freddie says today's homebuyers are paying over $1,200 less per year on a $200,000, 30-year fixed-rate loan than they would have just 12 months ago.

RES.NET, an infrastructure of diverse real estate professionals and supporting software applications, has recently launched a new tool embedded within all RES.NET portals called Connect. Connect enables all parties involved in the sale of a property to connect to each other and track the progress of their real estate transaction, regardless of sale type. This new tool enables the real estate industry to update their communications, and create a similar environment to that which is found in social media sites, the company explained.