The National Association of Realtors reports year-to-year increases in median prices and home sales in the Phoenix area.
Prices in March came in at $144,500, up from $127,500 in March 2009, a 13.3 percent increase. The number of home resales was up 10.1 percent, according to the association’s monthly report issued Thursday.
NAR’s prices are derived from estimates on a sample of Multiple Listing Service sales, unlike Arizona State University’s index, which measures prices of the same homes being resold at a later date and offers a different take on the local market.
Nationally, the number of single-family, townhome, condominium and co-op resales rose 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million units in March from 5.01 million in February, and 16.1 percent in March 2009. NAR attributes the rise to increased affordability, the homebuyer tax credit and the annual “spring surge.”
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says it is encouraing to see a broad home sales recovery in nearly every part of the country. Still foreclosures are feeding into the pipeline at a fairly steady pace, he adds. “In fact, foreclosures are selling quickly, especially in the lower price ranges that are attractive to first-time home buyers.”
Of the 20 major metros surveyed by NAR, 14 showed gains in median price, led by San Diego at 20.4 percent. The Southern California city also had the highest median price at $393,600. At $113,600, Atlanta had the lowest median.
Sales were up in all markets but New Orleans, which saw a 2.3 percent decline. Portland experienced the highest year-to-year increase in sales at 45.6 percent, according to the report.
Read more: Realtors: Phoenix home prices, sales on the rise - Phoenix Business Journal:
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Real Estate Outlook: Faster Recovery?
Real Estate Outlook: Faster Recovery?
by Kenneth R. Harney
What a great article...... thanks to Kenneth Harney and Realty Times.com
It's been a long time since we've seen the Wall Street Journal run a front-page article suggesting that the national economy appears to be rebounding faster than most analysts forecast. But that happened last week.
And over the past couple of years, we haven't seen retail sales -- a key barometer of consumer confidence -- jump by almost two percent in a single month. But we saw that last week as well.
And then there's real estate: The latest Federal Reserve "beige book" on economic conditions nationwide, issued last week, said something we haven't heard in a long, long time. Housing activity is up in 11 of the 12 bank districts.
All of this, of course, sounds like promising news for home sales in the coming months. In fact, Freddie Mac's economists see total sales this year at least 10 percent higher than last year, even with the possibility of higher mortgage interest rates.
But there are complications in the mix: The Fed's "beige book" report essentially said, yes, housing is on an upward path at the moment, but what happens to sales after the home purchase tax credits expire mid-year?
Will expansion elsewhere in the economy be able to sustain sales and prices?
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, has similar concerns. In his latest commentary, Yun says steadily rising employment will be essential to keeping housing positive once the credits disappear.
The employment report for March was encouraging: 162,000 net new jobs, Yun noted, even in hard hit sectors like manufacturing. Yun's forecast model projects one million additional new jobs this year, plus another two million next year.
But even that sort of rebound in employment won't be enough to replace the 8.2 million jobs lost in the recession years. So the unemployment challenge is likely to be with us for a few years -- at best.
Meanwhile, though foreclosures remain troublingly high, the rate of delinquencies on existing mortgages may have actually peaked and could be headed downward. Equifax and Moody's Economy.com report that the percentage of home loans thirty days late dropped in the first quarter - the first decline in four years.
And in major housing markets that took hard hits during the bust, signs of recovery continue to multiply. For example, in the six counties of Southern California, home sales were up 33 percent in March over February, and were up five percent over 2009 levels, according to MDA Data Quick.
Even median prices were on the rise -- by 14 percent over year-earlier levels.
Published: April 19, 2010
by Kenneth R. Harney
What a great article...... thanks to Kenneth Harney and Realty Times.com
It's been a long time since we've seen the Wall Street Journal run a front-page article suggesting that the national economy appears to be rebounding faster than most analysts forecast. But that happened last week.
And over the past couple of years, we haven't seen retail sales -- a key barometer of consumer confidence -- jump by almost two percent in a single month. But we saw that last week as well.
And then there's real estate: The latest Federal Reserve "beige book" on economic conditions nationwide, issued last week, said something we haven't heard in a long, long time. Housing activity is up in 11 of the 12 bank districts.
All of this, of course, sounds like promising news for home sales in the coming months. In fact, Freddie Mac's economists see total sales this year at least 10 percent higher than last year, even with the possibility of higher mortgage interest rates.
But there are complications in the mix: The Fed's "beige book" report essentially said, yes, housing is on an upward path at the moment, but what happens to sales after the home purchase tax credits expire mid-year?
Will expansion elsewhere in the economy be able to sustain sales and prices?
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, has similar concerns. In his latest commentary, Yun says steadily rising employment will be essential to keeping housing positive once the credits disappear.
The employment report for March was encouraging: 162,000 net new jobs, Yun noted, even in hard hit sectors like manufacturing. Yun's forecast model projects one million additional new jobs this year, plus another two million next year.
But even that sort of rebound in employment won't be enough to replace the 8.2 million jobs lost in the recession years. So the unemployment challenge is likely to be with us for a few years -- at best.
Meanwhile, though foreclosures remain troublingly high, the rate of delinquencies on existing mortgages may have actually peaked and could be headed downward. Equifax and Moody's Economy.com report that the percentage of home loans thirty days late dropped in the first quarter - the first decline in four years.
And in major housing markets that took hard hits during the bust, signs of recovery continue to multiply. For example, in the six counties of Southern California, home sales were up 33 percent in March over February, and were up five percent over 2009 levels, according to MDA Data Quick.
Even median prices were on the rise -- by 14 percent over year-earlier levels.
Published: April 19, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Fed: Low Rates Likely Through 2010
Fed: Low Rates Likely Through 2010
Interest rates are likely to remain low into 2011, Federal Reserve policymakers hinted this week in at least two presentations. These indications came one week after the Fed shut down its program to buy mortgage-backed securities, which had kept rates at or near record lows in recent months.
In a speech Thursday, Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo said, "The relatively modest pace of recovery, the continued high rate of unemployment, subdued inflation trends, and well-anchored inflation expectations together suggest that the need for highly accommodative monetary policies will not diminish soon.”
Likewise, Donald Kohn, Fed vice chairman in a speech in San Francisco, said the Fed would raise rates, “in due course,” but he also noted that low rates "help offset the lingering restraining effects on economic activity and prices."
So far, rates have risen modestly, but analysts speculate they will likely become much more volatile down the road.
“It’s an uncertain type of market,” says Keith Gumbinger of HSH.com.
Michael Fratantoni, vice president of research and economics for the Mortgage Bankers Association, predicts that the Fed will have created a situation where there are days or weeks of low-rate opportunities, and other days and weeks when rates rise significantly.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (04/08/2010), and The Wall Street Journal, Jon Hilsenrath (04/09/2010)
Interest rates are likely to remain low into 2011, Federal Reserve policymakers hinted this week in at least two presentations. These indications came one week after the Fed shut down its program to buy mortgage-backed securities, which had kept rates at or near record lows in recent months.
In a speech Thursday, Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo said, "The relatively modest pace of recovery, the continued high rate of unemployment, subdued inflation trends, and well-anchored inflation expectations together suggest that the need for highly accommodative monetary policies will not diminish soon.”
Likewise, Donald Kohn, Fed vice chairman in a speech in San Francisco, said the Fed would raise rates, “in due course,” but he also noted that low rates "help offset the lingering restraining effects on economic activity and prices."
So far, rates have risen modestly, but analysts speculate they will likely become much more volatile down the road.
“It’s an uncertain type of market,” says Keith Gumbinger of HSH.com.
Michael Fratantoni, vice president of research and economics for the Mortgage Bankers Association, predicts that the Fed will have created a situation where there are days or weeks of low-rate opportunities, and other days and weeks when rates rise significantly.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (04/08/2010), and The Wall Street Journal, Jon Hilsenrath (04/09/2010)
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