Tag Archives: Home Sales

RealtyTrac has released a new report detailing foreclosure sales activity during the first quarter. Altogether, third parties purchased a total of 158,434 bank-owned and short sale homes during the first three months of this year. That's down 36 percent from a year earlier. At this pace, it would take three years to clear the current inventory of properties already on the banks' books or in foreclosure. REOs sold at an average discount of 35 percent in Q1, while short sale properties carried a mark-down of nearly 9 percent.

The U.S. housing market could experience a severe double-dip contraction marked by lower home sales and depressed house prices if Congress fails to raise the federal debt ceiling, according to the Center for American Progress, a nonprofit research group. The Center says inaction to raise the debt limit would spark a return of the economic pain of the past few years as foreclosures would remain at record highs for an even longer stretch. Not raising the limit by early August threatens to put the U.S. itself on the verge of default.

California's distressed home sales dropped in April for the second consecutive month, according to the state's local Realtors group. The California Association of Realtors reports that the total share of all distressed property types sold statewide - including REOs and short sales - declined to 48 percent, down from 51 percent in March. The group says bargain hunters and investors were joined last month by homebuyers who are timing their decisions to coincide with the start of the spring season and targeting more non-distressed properties.

First-time homebuyers - a segment that typically targets distressed homes - currently make up just one-third of the market, according to the research firm Campbell Surveys. While this is what would be considered their ""normal"" market share, the company says this is not enough demand to absorb the excess supply coming from defaulting homeowners and will likely make for a poor spring and summer buying season. Survey respondents in April reported that potential first-time buyers are having trouble finding foreclosed homes in move-in ready condition.

Fannie Mae's latest market outlook continues to call for a ""modest improvement"" in housing activity this year, although the prevalence of distressed properties on the market has led to renewed weakness in home prices and the industry's shadow inventory looms large. The GSE's chief economist notes that as the economic recovery approaches its two-year anniversary in June, housing has not yet contributed to economic growth in any meaningful way and is significantly underperforming compared to previous market recoveries.

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that the share of distressed home sales dropped last month, accounting for 37 percent of total existing-home sales volume, down from 40 percent in March. Overall, sales of previously owned homes fell back 0.8 percent in April, to an annual sales pace of 5.05 million. Realtors in the field say the numbers are being impacted by low appraisals that result in contract cancellations. There were 3.87 million existing homes available for sale in April, which represents a 9.2-month supply.

According to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association (ORRA), the Florida city's once-monolithic housing inventory was down to 11,480 homes available for purchase last month, a level not seen since 2005. Foreclosures and short sales represented a lion's share 65.49 percent of all home sales in April, although that figure is down 5 percent from March.

Freddie Mac announced Monday the launch of a nationwide sales promotion for its inventory of foreclosed homes. Selling agents will receive a bonus of $1,200 for initial offers received between May 16th and July 31st with escrows closed on or before the final day of September. The extra incentive applies to Freddie Mac's HomeSteps properties sold to owner-occupant buyers. As of the end of the first quarter, Freddie Mac held 65,174 REO homes.

Sales of previously owned homes - which in recent months have been buoyed by a growing share of distressed REO and short sales - are expected to remain on an upward, albeit uneven, track through this year and next, according to economists at the National Association of Realtors' midyear meeting. Lawrence Yun says if the first-quarter sales pace holds, the year will close with 5.1 million completed transactions, 4 percent above last year. Frank Nothaft expects the increase to be at least that much, perhaps a bit higher.

Freddie Mac's economists see some positive signs for housing in terms of affordability and low mortgage rates, but extended unemployment dampens the forecast. The average duration of unemployment was just over 38 weeks in April. The GSE says the large number of workers unemployed for a long period remains the predominant force behind seriously delinquent mortgages. According to Freddie Mac, the economy needs to add over 250,000 new jobs per month, on a sustained basis, to reabsorb all the jobs lost since the recession.