Home Sales Hit Highest Level Since 2007 | Bedford Hills Homes
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Turning Point for Housing Market? | Bedford Hills Real Estate
As the year’s peak home buying season comes to a close, key market indicators point to a shift in the dynamics of the housing market, suggesting that future home value appreciations may likely be driven by market demand, rather than inventory shortages.
An analysis of the summer home buying season ending in August shows year-over-year changes now within the single-digits for three key indicators – inventory count, median age and median list price, signaling a leveling of the market not seen for some time. The national market was virtually flat month-over-month compared to July for both inventory and median list price, and registered a slight increase in median age of inventory.
“Where we have seen significant volatility in many markets, including double-digit declines in inventory as well as increases in median price for both yearly and monthly views, we are now looking at a housing market that is less heated and moving closer to normalcy,” said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move.
Realtor.com® Key National Market Indicators for August 2013
August 2013 | Year-over-Year % Change | Month-over-Month % Change | |
| Number of Listings | 1,977,202 | -2.50% | 0.93% |
| Median Age of Inventory | 92 days | -8.00% | 8.24% |
| Median List Price | $199,900 | 6.39% | 0.00% |
National Highlights:
Widespread Inventory Recovery – The inventory recovery is broad and growing. The net number of listings increased even though the summer season is ending. Close to one-third of the 146 markets are within 5 percent of last year’s inventory levels, and more than two-thirds (99) of markets registered a net increase in inventory over last month.
Prices Stabilize – Despite the increase in inventories, the national median list price did not change compared to July. Absent a significant weakening in economic conditions or significantly higher rates, prices should continue to slowly rise alongside typical cost of living increases.
Price Appreciation Becoming More Widespread – In August, 123 of the 146 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) covered by realtor.com® registered a year-over-year increase in their median list price, with 78 markets registering an increase of 5 percent or more. Of the 18 markets reporting a list price decline, only 11 markets had a year-over-year list price decline of one percent or more, and only three markets had a list price decline of 5 percent or more. By contrast, the number of markets reporting year over year median prices lower than they were last year was 31 in July.
One-Foot-Wide Path to Hamptons Beach Sells for $120,000 | Bedford Hills Real Estate
Ordinarily, when Suffolk County, New York, takes over a small piece of land for back taxes, they like to sell it off cheap. As in, maybe ten bucks. But when the little piece of land is a path that leads to a beach in the Hamptons … well, things may take a different course, reports Newsday (“Bidder buys 1-foot-wide strip of Napeague land for $120,000,” by Mitchell Freedman).
Reports Newsday: “The battle royale began after Suffolk — which acquired the wooded ribbon of land in 2003 for nonpayment of taxes — tried to sell the property in Napeague to any of the six adjoining land owners for $10. Four of the owners didn’t respond to the offer to submit a bid but the other two were so interested the county set up a face-to-face auction and imposed a $1,500 minimum bid.”
Marc Helie (of Manhattan firm Chevalier Investments, LLC) and Kyle N. Cruz (a managing director at Centerbridge Partners LP in Manhattan) jumped quickly to bids of $5,000, $12,000, and $17,000. Cruz folded after Helie saw his $115,000 and raised it to $120,000.
The parties aren’t talking about what they saw in the slender property. But SuffolknCounty official Wayne R. Thompson commented: “I gathered one guy really did not want the other one walking over his property to the water.”
Recovery Lags in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Rockford, Fresno, Stockton | Bedford Hills Homes
Markets in northern Maryland, southeast Pennsylvania and downstate Illinois are lagging the furthest behind in the recovery while metro area markets in upstate New York, southwest Florida and the Bay Area of Northern California are leading the housing recovery, according to RealtyTrac’s Housing Market Recovery Index.
The market recovery index in Baltimore was lowest among the 100 major metro areas ranked in the report thanks to underperforming numbers for all factors except for underwater percentage and cash purchase percentage. Although home prices have risen 9 percent from the bottom in Baltimore, that is short of the 19 percent increase nationally. Similarly, foreclosure activity was down 26 percent from its peak in Baltimore, but that decrease is well below the 65 percent decrease nationally. The Maryland metro of Hagerstown-Martinsburg also posted one of the five lowest recovery index scores.
Two metros in southeastern Pennsylvania posted total index scores that were in the five lowest among the 100 major metro areas ranked in the report: Allentown and Philadelphia. Although both had below-average percentages of underwater homeowners and distressed sales, both also underperformed in the areas of home price increases, foreclosure decreases, institutional investor and cash purchases, and unemployment rate.
An 11 percent unemployment rate helped place Rockford, Ill., among the five lowest recovery index scores. The downstate Illinois metro area also underperformed in the areas of underwater homeowners, decrease in foreclosure activity, percentage of distressed sales and cash sales, and rebounding home prices.
Three California metros posted recovery index scores among the 20 lowest despite above-average increases in home prices: Fresno, Visalia-Porterville, and Stockton. Unemployment rates above 12 percent, along with above-average percentages of underwater homeowners and distressed sales, lowered the index scores in these Central Valley California cities.
Four Florida cities posted recovery index scores among the 20 lowest: Pensacola-Ferry Bass-Brent, Tallahassee, Ocala, and Port St. Lucie. All four cities had above-average percentages of underwater homeowners along with below-average participation by institutional investors.
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Connecticut increases protection for homeowners against foreclosure | Bedford Hills Real Estate
According to Stamford, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed a new housing bill into law that will increase homeowners protection from foreclosure.
“It will help keep more people in their homes, it will help the homeowner, it will help the lender and help the neighborhoods,” Malloy said during his first bill-signing in his hometown.
Source: Stamford
Investors Still Bullish on Real Estate | Bedford Hills Real Estate
Real estate ranks second as America’s favorite long term investment despite the three trillion dollars in equity homeowners lost during the housing depression, according to a new survey by Bankrate.com.
More than one in four Americans (26 percent) favor cash, edging out real estate (23 percent). One in six (16 percent) favor gold or other precious metals, even though those investments have been pummeled in 2013, while only 14 percent say stocks would be their choice. Just eight percent of Americans chose bonds. For money not needed for more than 10 years, 26 percent of Americans favor cash, 23 percent real estate, 16 percent gold/other precious metals, 14 percent stocks and 8 percent bonds.
“Americans not saving enough is well-documented, but hunkering down in cash investments and settling for low returns will only magnify the problem of not having a sufficient nest egg to meet longer-range financial goals such as retirement,” said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate.com’s senior financial analyst. “Other choices may not do the trick either, as real estate is not only very cash-intensive, but often illiquid. And precious metals spit out zero cash flows, with gains solely dependent on price appreciation.”
McBride said using a 401K or IRA to invest in residential real estate is not a good idea except for high end investors who are diversifying their portfolio. That real estate very illiquid and hard to access during an emergency and real estate investments are more cash-intensive that many investors realize.
A recent study by economists at the Atlanta Federal Reserve found that real estate was less profitable than securities as an investment. .
“We compute that 40 percent of homes owned for less than 13 years have negative average annual returns, compared to 12 percent of homes owned for 13 years or more. Interestingly, while a much greater portion of those owning for 13 or more years obtain positive returns, the average annual return was actually slightly higher for those owning fewer than 13 years (0.95 percent versus 1.03 percent),” said Ellyn Terry and Jessica Dill, two economists at the Atlanta Federal Reserve, in a working paper published June 12.
Bankrate.com estimates the average money-market deposit account yields just 0.11 percent, so a $10,000 initial investment would only gain $110.55 over a 10-year period. And the average five-year CD currently yields just 0.78 percent.
Investors Still Bullish on Real Estate | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.
Bedford Hills sales up 9% – Prices up 13% | RobReportBlog | Bedford Hills Real Estate
| Bedford Hills NY Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog | ||
| 2013 | 6 months ending 7/8 | 2012 | |
| 12 | Sales | 11 | |
| $482,500.00 | median sold price | $426,000.00 | |
| $170,000.00 | low sold price | $263,000.00 | |
| $1,732,500.00 | high sold price | $3,550,000.00 | |
| 2314 | average size | 2866 | |
| $292.00 | ave. price per foot | $269.00 | |
| 175 | ave days on market | 172 | |
| $635,791.00 | average sold price | $924,136.00 | |
| 92.35% | ave sold to ask | 93.20% |
Bedford Hills sales up 9% – Prices up 13% | RobReportBlog | Bedford Hills Real Estate.
Rates rising too quickly could hurt housing recovery | Bedford Hills Real Estate
In the short term, the jump in interest rates is spurring home buyers in the Washington region and other hot markets to action, adding to the already frenzied competition to get a home, writes the Washington Post.
But a sustained rise would hurt a fragile housing recovery, which has climbed out of the depths of its crash with the help of record-low rates, economists said.
“The biggest threat to the recovery is that rates rise too fast,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
Rates rising too quickly could hurt housing recovery | HousingWire.
Impact Of Mortgage Refinance On Housing | Bedford Hills Homes
Mortgage refinance applications have been taking a hit recently.
This morning’s MBA purchase applications showed that refinance index was down 15% for the May 31st week.
The refinancing index is down four straight weeks, and was down 12% the previous week.
Refinance applications tends to be more sensitive to a rise in mortgage rates.
The MBA 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed from 3.59% in the first week of May to 4.07% in the first week of June. The decline in refinance activity reflects the rise in mortgage rates, Ed Stansfield, chief housing economist at Capital Economics explained in an email interview.
There are three key reasons to watch this data.
First, despite the recent sharp rise, mortgage rates are still at low levels. So the impact on refinance activity shows that both the housing market and overall economic confidence are still “fragile” and the the recovery is dependent on the loose monetary policy.
Second, is the impact on consumer spending, which Stansfield doesn’t think will be “large.”
Third, for those with adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) the rising interest rates have been a bigger blow. “This could offset some of the benefits of falling unemployment on delinquency rates, though again I would not really expect this effect to be large based on the rise in mortgage rates seen so far.”
Jessica Simpson lists one home, keeps the other | Bedford Hills Real Estate
The “Fashion Star” judge just listed her longtime residence for $7.995 million, according to Zillow, who writes:
Custom-built in the early ’90s by award-winning L.A. designer Kerry Joyce, the 5,500-square-foot home is located in a private celebrity enclave with a gated entrance and vine-covered exterior. Simpson has owned the 5-bedroom property since 2005, when she bought it for $5.275 million following her separation from then-husband Nick Lachey.
To see photos of the California home, click here.
Jessica Simpson lists one home, keeps the other | HousingWire.