Agents Report Strong Homebuyer Traffic Despite Winter Season

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BY: ESTHER CHO

Winter weather did not slow down the housing market’s momentum, with homebuyer traffic still going strong in December, according to survey results fromCampbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

The three homebuyer groups—current homeowners, first-time homebuyers, and investors—all recorded their biggest traffic gains of 2012 in December, data from the HousingPulse survey revealed.

“According to our survey respondents, this is not a normal winter. Time on market for non-distressed properties is much lower, and we already see our homebuyer traffic indexes

building toward a strong spring/summer buying season,” said Thomas Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys.

The survey also measured the relative health of the housing market by assessing time on market, number of offers, closed transactions, and sales prices. Overall, survey data revealed all measures improved at the end of 2012.

With an index value of 50 representing no change, the sales price index rose month-over-month to 61.1 from 58.1 in November, reaching the highest level recorded by the survey.

The number of offers index jumped to 61.5 in December from 57.3 in November, the highest level since July, HousingPulse reported.

The closed transactions index also trended upwards, rising to 54.4 in December from 51.2 in November.

Meanwhile, time on market improved by falling to 40 in December from 43.3 in November, the lowest level since June.

Survey respondent include about 2,500 real estate agents across the country. When agents in the survey were asked if their local real estate market was experiencing the normal seasonal decline in housing activity, a majority of respondents in December indicated this winter was much busier than normal due to the low inventory of properties for sale and strong homebuyer traffic.

LPS: November Prices Up from Prior Month and Year

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BY: TORY BARRINGER

Home prices continued to inch up in November, according to Lender Processing Services’ (LPS) Home Price Index (HPI) for the month.

LPS’ data showed home prices increased to an average $207,000 in November, an increase of 0.5 percent from $206,000 in October. On a year-over-year basis, prices were up 5.1 percent from November 2011’s $197,000.

Year-to-date, November’s HPI was up 5.8 percent from $196,000 in January, according to LPS. The recorded peak for this cycle (reached in June 2006) was $266,000.

Florida topped the list of states to see the largest price gains in November, posting a 1.5 percent month-over-month improvement. The Sunshine State hosted all of November’s top 10 metros in terms of price improvement, with growth ranging from 1.2 percent to 1.9 percent.

On the state level, the other “biggest movers” (following Florida) were New York (1.1 percent growth), Washington, D.C. (1.0 percent), Georgia, Minnesota, and Nevada (the latter three all coming in at 0.9 percent).

Only Rhode Island and Massachusetts reported price declines from October (-0.1 percent and -0.2 percent, respectively), while Washington, Oklahoma, and Alaska all stayed flat.

Springfield, Massachusetts posted the largest price decline among metros in November, seeing -0.6 percent growth.

 

Case-Shiller Indexes Show Sharp Annual Gain in November

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BY: MARK LIEBERMAN, FIVE STAR INSTITUTE ECONOMIST

Despite seeing a month-over-month drop, the 10- and 20-city Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes registered their strongest year-over-year improvement in two and a half years on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, Standard & Poor’sreported Tuesday.

The 10-city index fell 0.2 percent, and the 20-city index dropped 0.1 percent from October to November. On an annual basis, however, the 10-city index was up 4.5 percent, and the 20-city index rose 5.5 percent. It was the strongest yearly gain in the 10-city index since June 2010 and in the 20-city index since May 2010.

For the month, prices rose in 11 of the 20 cities surveyed. For the year, prices were up in 19 cities.

Economists had expected the 20-city index to fall 0.1 percent in November, calculating to a 5.8 percent year-over-year gain.

The Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) index for November, reported last week, showed 5.7 percent yearly gain. The median price of an existing single family home, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), rose 1.4 percent in November and registered a 9.4 percent year-over-year increase.

Of the nine cities in which prices fell in November, seven showed a drop in employment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Prices declined 1.3 percent in Chicago in November—where according to BLS, employment fell by almost 12,000—and 1.1 percent in New York, where employment fell by 8,102. Prices fell 0.9 percent in Boston. where employment dropped 737, and 0.8 percent in Cleveland, where employment fell 2,661. The unemployment rate in Chicago in November was 9.7 percent (a drop of 0.2 percentage points), 8.6 percent in New York (a drop of 0.6 percentage points), 5.9 percent in Boston (a drop of 0.4 percentage points), 8.8 percent in Cleveland, an increase of 0.9 percentage points.

The cities where prices rose in November were led by San Francisco, which saw a 1.4 price gain, and Minneapolis, where prices rose 1.0 percent. In San Francisco, according to the BLS, employment edged up 784, and the unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 6.7 percent. In Minneapolis, employment rose 348 in November as the unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 5.2 percent.

The only city which saw a year-over-year price drop was New York, where prices fell 1.2 percent, even though the city’s employment rose 14,090 and unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points for the year.

Phoenix showed the strongest yearly price increase, up 22.8 percent from November 2011 to November 2012, with San Francisco a distant second, recording a 12.7 percent price gain. Prices rose double digits year-over-year in only two other cities: Detroit, up 11.9 percent, and Minneapolis, up 11.1 percent.

The unemployment rate fell 1.4 percentage points year-over-year in Phoenix and 1.2 percentage points in San Francisco, though it increased 0.5 percentage points in Detroit in the year. The unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percentage points in Minneapolis in the year.

The 10-city index in November was down 30.1 percent from its June 2006 peak, and the 20-city index is down 29.4 percent from its July 2006 peak.

State Officials Negotiating Falcons Stadium Plans

ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has asked Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank to reduce the amount of money taxpayers would be asked to contribute to a proposed $1 billion stadium.

Plans for the new, retractable-roof stadium initially included a $300 million public contribution derived from hotel-motel tax revenues. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Deal has asked Blank to lower his request for public funding to $200 million.

In December, the franchise and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority agreed on terms surrounding the proposed stadium. Since then, Falcons representatives and state officials have been negotiating details of the proposal and are working toward settling on a final financing arrangement.

The proposal for the new stadium calls for demolishing the Georgia Dome, which was built in 1992.

 

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Jake W

The AP’s Top 10 Things to Know | January 23

1. A VOTE TO AVOID DEBT CRISIS

The House is expected to vote Wednesday to let the government borrow enough to pay three months’ worth of bills.

2. NETANYAHU SCRAMBLES TO RETAIN POWER IN ISRAEL

The elections ended in a deadlock in parliament, making it more difficult for the prime minister to form a new coalition to stay in office.

3. CLINTON FINALLY FACES CONGRESS

The secretary of state testifies about the Sept. 11 attack on the Libya diplomatic mission that killed a U.S. ambassador.

4. WHAT JOBS AREN’T COMING BACK AFTER RECESSION

An AP analysis finds millions of middle-class jobs are disappearing, replaced by technology.

5. TEXAS COLLEGE GUNFIRE SPARKS FEARS OF MASS SHOOTING

Three people were wounded at the Houston-area college and one of the wounded was charged with assault.

6. GENERAL CLEARED IN EMAIL INQUIRY

The Pentagon reviewed more up to 30,000 pages of emails between Gen. John Allen and a Tampa socialite, but found no misconduct.

7. WHO MIGHT LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION

British Prime Minister David Cameron says that if his party wins the next election he’ll let voters decide whether to leave the EU.

8. THE COLDEST PLACE IN THE U.S.

Temperatures in Embarrass, Minn., rose to 15 below on Tuesday night from 36 below zero the day before as a deep freeze moved east.

9. LISTEN UP: BEYONCE GOES SILENT WHEN ASKED ABOUT LIP SYNCING

Questions swirl about whether the singer’s voice was pre-recorded for her rendition of the national anthem.

10. SERENA’S GRAND SLAM REIGN ENDS

Williams’ loss in the Australian Open quarterfinals to teenager Sloane Stephens was her first defeat in a major since last year’s French Open.

 

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.” – John Locke

FACT OF THE DAY:

FACT OF THE DAY:

The grief suffered after a pet dog dies can be the same as that experienced after the death of a person. – Provided by RandomHistory.com

SITE OF THE DAY:

SITE OF THE DAY:

FactMonster: The Fifty States

“Facts and trivia about the fifty states of the United States of America: government, populations, maps, flags, state landmarks, climate data, and more.”

Home Values See Largest Annual Gain Since 2006

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BY: TORY BARRINGER

U.S. home values in 2012 rose 5.9 percent over 2011, according to data in Zillow’s latest Home Value Index (HVI).

The 5.9 percent appreciation rate is the largest annual gain since August 2006, near the peak of the housing bubble.

While the market still has some ground to cover before it’s completely healthy again, Zillow said in a release that 2012’s appreciation rate “far exceeded yearly rates of appreciation typically associated with healthy markets,” which “can expect annual home value appreciation of roughly 3 percent on average.”

Looking ahead, the Zillow Home Value Forecast projects an appreciation rate of 3.3 percent in 2013, more in line with historic norms.

In addition, the fourth quarter of 2012 saw home values rise to an average $157,400, up 2.5 percent over Q3, according to the fourth quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

Of the 30 largest metros covered in the HVI, only Cincinnati and Chicago failed to report annual and quarterly increases in the fourth quarter, Zillow said. Of the 366 total metros analyzed, 254 (69 percent) registered annual home value gains in 2012, while 278 (76 percent) experienced quarter-over-quarter appreciation.

Though the recovery in home values appears to be widespread, it’s not balanced among metros, Zillow said. According to the report, growth rates ranged from a high of 22.5 percent yearly appreciation in Phoenix to a low of 0.2 percent depreciation in Cincinnati and Chicago. Seven of the top 30 largest metros posted annual home value appreciation of 10 percent or higher.

“We expected 2012 to be a good year for housing, and it delivered in spades,” said Zillow chief economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “Strong demand paired with limited inventory in many markets helped fuel a robust and often rapid recovery in overall home values, good news for homeowners after years of poor performance.”

While home value appreciation is expected to slow down in 2013, Humphries said the anticipated 3.3 percent annual appreciation rate is “more sustainable.” That said, consumers should be careful to temper their expectations accordingly.

“It’s important to be cautious moving forward, even as we celebrate the undeniably positive end to 2012, and be careful that consumers don’t grow to expect such high appreciation as the norm,” Humphries said. “Buying a home should be a long-term decision, and these swings between a deep housing recession and higher-than-normal appreciation rates can give consumers whiplash and cause some to lose sight of that.”

As home values rose throughout 2012’s fourth quarter, foreclosure activity declined, with 5.22 out of every 10,000 homes nationwide facing foreclosure in December (down 2.2 homes per 10,000 year-over-year and 1.2 homes quarter-over-quarter). The share of foreclosure re-sales dropped to 12 percent, down 4 percent from the end of 2011 and 0.3 percent from the third quarter.

Meanwhile, national rents fell 0.6 percent from the third quarter to the fourth; however, rents were up 4.2 percent year-over-year in 2012. The Zillow Rent Index stood at $1,274 at the end of December.

 

Survey Finds Agents, Homebuyers Optimistic About Prices in 2013

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BY: ESTHER CHO

As home prices continue to climb, real estate agents and homebuyers are maintaining a positive outlook for home values in 2013, a recent survey found.

The survey, which was jointly released by Point2Homesand PropertyShark, reported 71 percent of survey respondents predicted home prices will go up or maintain their current level in 2013.

The survey included nearly 1,500 real estate professionals and homebuyers who were questioned in December 2012 on topics such as prices, sales volume, and inventory, as well as factors that will drive the market.

The view that prices will either stabilize or go up was shared by 59 percent of agents and 37 percent of homebuyers.

As for sales volumes, 41 percent of respondents overall said sales should increase, with 52 percent of agents sharing this view and 41 percent of homeowners stating sales will go up.

When it came to inventory, respondents said they don’t expect to see a change.

As for factors that will drive the market in 2013, 31 percent of respondents think that mortgage rates will have the biggest influence on the market. Access to loans placed second as an influential factor 2013 and foreclosures ranked third.

The survey also found Californians were more optimistic than New Yorkers when it comes to home prices.

Half, or 50 percent of California respondents, predicted prices will increase in 2013 compared to 44 percent of New York respondents.

On the topic of foreclosures, 21 percent of California respondents said foreclosures will influence the market in 2013, compared with only 9 percent of the respondents from New York. The survey noted the difference may be due to the higher foreclosure rate seen in California.