Home sales drop 2.7 percent

Home sales drop 2.7 percent, Median sales price down 12.5 percent!!

This is according to the National Association of Realtors.

There is still uncertainty in the real estate market.  Great time for buyers, not so good for sellers.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Home-sales-drop-27-apf-2064841344.html?x=0&.v=4

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Stats for February

All Property Types

	ALL	Distressed	Not Distressed	% Distressed
Active	49008	21443	27565	43.75
Pending	10355	7815	2540	75.47
Closed	5480	4070	1410	74.27

Months of inventory for Not Distressed properties = 19.5
Months of inventory for Distressed properties = 5.3

Single Family Property Types

	ALL	Distressed	Not Distressed	% Distressed
Active	39447	18692	20755	47.39
Pending	9406	7306	2100	77.67
Closed	4904	3753	1151	76.53

Months of inventory for Not Distressed properties = 18
Months of inventory for Distressed properties = 5

Home prices drop 15 percent in Phoenix, nearly 8 percent nationwide

 

 

Phoenix Business Journal – by Adam Kress

 

Single-family home prices are dropping at record levels, and the Phoenix area is getting hit harder than most.

According to the National Association of Realtors, home prices dropped 7.7 percent from first-quarter 2007 to first-quarter 2008. In Phoenix, the numbers were down more than 15 percent, to a median sales price of $220,200 for the period.

The NAR said this was the largest year-over-year decline since the group began reporting prices in 1982. The national median sales price was $196,300 for the first quarter, down 4.8 percent compared with the last three months of 2007.

Read the rest….. 

 

The Housing Crisis is over?

In the opinion piece, The Housing Crisis is Over?, from the Wall Street Journal, reports that Cyril Moulle-Bertaux suggests that April 2008 marked the bottom of the U.S. housing market.  And in his R.O.I. column WSJ’s Brett Arends makes a similar argument. He looks at the data on housing starts since 1972, which shows that new housing starts slumped below the one million mark in March. Every time that has happened in the last 50 years, Mr. Arends writes, it proved to be the bottom of a recession. Mr. Arends points out that Bill Wheaton, a legendary real-estate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has also suggested that fears about the real-estate crash were overdone. And he points to a private portfolio manager in London, who said the homebuilding stocks on Wall Street were at last a “buy.” In the Journal editorial, Mr. Moulle-Bertaux suggests that the housing market will revive, as more first-time buyers are lured in by falling prices and lower mortgage rates. “Homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s,” he writes. “Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in.”

 

And Now April Existing Home Sales are UP!!!

We saw that March had an increase from February sales.  Now April has seen a 13% increase from March sales.  There were 4783 existing home sales in April.  This is really good news.  Combine that news with the fact that the number of homes currently in escrow is close to 8000 means May looks to have at least as many sales as April.  I believe we will hit 5000 homes sales in May.  Right now Inventory is at 54716 with 49% of those properties sitting vacant.  We have just under 12 months of inventory.

I believe the bottom is here for Metro Phoenix.

  

March Existing Home Sales are WAY UP!!!

It will be 15 days before you hear the “official” numbers from Arizona Association of Realtors, but you can say you heard it here first.  March existing home sales are up, WAY UP!!!  There were 4200 existing home sales in March which is an increase of nearly 24% over February’s sales.  The bigger news is that the number of homes currently in escrow is close to 7000.  This means that within the next 45 days or so most of these properties will be closing escrow.  If the number of homes in escrow stays consistently at or above about 6500 the monthly sales figures should remain brisk at over 4000 per month.  If all things continue along as they are now, April existing home sales will hit at least 4700.  Even though inventory is still hovering at 56000, months of inventory is now at 13 months and should shrink to 12 months by the end of April.  

Have we hit the bottom?  Can’t say yet, but we should know soon.

Stay tuned….

 

Jim Gruler
Designated Broker
Hunter James Properties
www.azhomezone.com

Lenders altering rules for credit

The article, Lenders altering rules for credit, from the Arizona Republic, reports that banks and lenders are rapidly changing their requirements for loans as home sales and prices fall and delinquencies and defaults rise. To adjust their standards, which many critics say grew too lax in the middle of the decade, lenders now are raising minimum credit scores, offering smaller loans and requiring detailed proof of income and assets.
For those who do meet the tightened criteria, a new plan announced Tuesday by the Federal Reserve to provide $200 billion to the financial-services sector should mean there is plenty of money available for borrowers and lower interest rates, said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s. In early 2007, customers with credit scores in the low 600s would be able to receive a mortgage with no down payment and by simply stating their income. Today, a credit score below 680 is a red flag that subjects a prospective homeowner to higher rates and special fees.  Read the entire article to find out more.

Jim Gruler
Designated Broker
Hunter James Properties
www.azhomezone.com

Older Homeowners Cautioned On Use of Reverse Mortgages

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority urged homeowners over the age of 60 to carefully weigh their options before tapping into their home equity through reverse mortgages to obtain additional income for their retirement years. The group, formed by a merger of the NASD and some regulatory functions of New York Stock Exchange parent NYSE Group Inc., warned that a reverse mortgage — an interest-bearing loan secured by the equity in a home — can jeopardize their financial futures.

 With a reverse mortgage, a bank makes payments to a homeowner instead of the homeowner making payments to a bank. The loan is repaid, with interest, when the borrower sells the house, moves out or dies. Reverse mortgages have high fees — typically about 7% of the home’s value — and they make it difficult for homeowners to leave the property to their heirs.

 Read the whole article at realestatejournal.com.

 

Jim Gruler
Designated Broker
Hunter James Properties
www.azhomezone.com

A Good Time to Buy a House If You Can Afford One

For years rapidly rising prices kept many first-time home buyers out of the housing market. But as home values slide further downward and interest rates hover at relatively low levels, it may be time to start looking to buy that first house. That is, if you have a secure job, can afford higher down payments than were required a few years ago and can meet lenders’ much stricter income and credit requirements.

Also, don’t assume the seller is even in the right ballpark with his asking price. Most real-estate agents and sellers only look at comparable sales prices, or “comps,” of similar homes in similar neighborhoods. Take a lesson from property investors and appraisers instead and check out prices from other angles as well.

 To read the whole article go here

Jim Gruler
Designated Broker
Hunter James Properties
www.azhomezone.com

Arizona banks join ‘Lifeline’ to aid homeowners

White House effort will give homeowners at risk of foreclosure a 30-day reprieve.

 

If you are a homeowner and you have a loan with one of the following banks:

 

Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual or Wells Fargo

 

AND you meet the following criteria you may be able to get a temporary reprieve from foreclosure proceedings:

 

□          90 days or more overdue on payments

□          have not filed for bankruptcy protection

□          don’t have a foreclosure date set within the next 30 days

□          haven’t vacated the property

□          haven’t used your loan to fund investment property or vacation homes

 

Read the article at:

http://www.azcentral.com/realestate/articles/0213biz-lifeline0213.html

Jim Gruler
Designated Broker
Hunter James Properties
www.azhomezone.com