Tag Archives: South Salem Real Estate

7 Housing Trends for 2013 | South Salem NY Real Estate

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As 2013 comes to a close and real estate experts predict where the housing market is headed in 2014, a look back reveals several trends.

“In 2012 we saw the housing market recover and, going into 2013, we expected continuing recovery,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. “Instead, the recovery accelerated a lot faster than we anticipated, which was great for sellers and for the 75 million homeowners who saw their home values appreciate.”

1. Housing Prices Rose Faster Than Expected

The national median listing price was $179,900 in January 2012 and rose to $180,000 by December 2012, according to realtor.com research. The pace of price appreciation accelerated quickly over the year to reach a median list price of $199,500 by September 2013.

2. Mortgage Rates Rose but Remained Low

“We expected mortgage rates to rise in 2013, and they started to increase in the late spring, but they’re still very affordable when you look at rates on a historical basis,” Yun said. “They just aren’t at the super-low point we saw earlier.” According to Freddie Mac, 30-year fixed-rate loans were as low as 3.45 percent in December 2012 and rose to 4.49 in September 2013. Barry Habib, co-owner and chief market strategist for Residential Finance Corp., said mortgage rates are likely to stay low and perhaps even drop between now and March 2014.

3. Bidding Wars Returned

The combination of rising prices, low mortgage rates and low inventory led to a sense of urgency among buyers and the return of bidding wars, said Don Frommeyer, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. According to realtor.com research, inventory in 2012 reached a high of 2,083,710 homes on the market, then steadily declined to a low of 1,583,497 homes in February 2013. At the end of September 2013, 2,210,000 homes were for sale, approximately a five-month supply.

 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/realtorcom/7-housing-trends-for-2013_b_4460914.html

NYC’s stalled construction sites drop 12 percent: report | South Salem Real Estate

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The revival of development projects in Manhattan and Brooklyn resulted in a 12 percent year-over-year drop in the number of stalled construction sites in New York City, according to the latest report from the New York Building Congress. There were 610 stalled construction sites citywide in November 2013, compared to 690 in November 2012 and a peak of 709 in November 2010, according to data from the New York City Department of Buildings.

The number of stalled sites in Manhattan dropped 26 percent over the past 12 months – from 122 in November 2012 to 90 in November of this year. Reignited projects in Manhattan include the Alexico Group’s 56 Leonard Street , Silverstein Properties’ 30 Park Place and Elad Group’s 5 Franklin Place in Tribeca

Brooklyn leads the city with 267 suspended projects, though it too has seen a 17 percent year-over-year decline, according to the report.

“In our annual construction forecast report released in October, we estimated that residential construction spending will double between 2012 and 2015,” said New York Building Congress president Richard Anderson in a statement today. “That rosy outlook was based largely on the fact that a number of luxury developments, which were shelved during the great recession, have come roaring back to life.”

 

 

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/11/25/nycs-stalled-construction-sites-drop-12-percent-report/

Gramercy Unit Sells for $17.3M; Transplants Can’t Cut it in City | South Salem NY Homes

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Welcome to It Happened One Weekend, our weekly roundup of The New York Times real estate section…

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1)Big Ticket The award for biggest sale of the week goes to 18 Gramercy Park South, where a full-floor, 4,207-square-foot apartment sold for $17.3 million. Carrying costs rounded out at about $11,225.31 and the sponsors, Zeckendorf Development and Global Holdings, bestowed a key to the private Gramercy Park as a customary closing gift, which sounds wonderfully dramatic and fun. We wish we had a key to a secret park . . . [“Big Ticket | Luxury Lodging for $17.3 Million”]

2) Every “The Hunt” column begins with the Hunters describing the apartment they want, and ends with them rationalizing whatever they came away with. This is The Hunt: Dreams vs. Reality The Hunters: a couple sick of city-life looking to move to the ‘burbs Price Dream: $350,000 to $450,000 Reality: $387,500 Neighborhood Dream: Westchester Reality: Hartsdale Amenities Dream: quiet, spacious Reality: 3BR/2BA, spacious Summary After seeing their rent on the Upper East Side skyrocket, this couple decided that city-life (and its modern hullaballoo!) wasn’t for them and decided to look for a two-story home in the suburbs, focusing on Westchester. They eventually settled on a two-story, Cape-style home with three beds and two baths in Hartsdale, attracted by its small ask and spaciousness. They paid $387,500 and are apparently loving life because everything’s cheaper and commuting to work doesn’t make them homicidal. But alas, they now live in the suburbs, trading crippling neurosis for soul-shattering boredom.

 

[The Hunt/”In Westchester, an End to Elevator and Subway Commutes”]

It’s official: JPMorgan signs $13B RMBS settlement | South Salem Real Estate

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Mega bank JPMorgan Chase (JPM) signed an agreement with government agencies to end all existing legacy mortgage-backed securities issues for $13 billion.

New York Attorney General Eric Shneiderman, who co-chairs a working group overseeing legacy mortgage investigations, announced the deal, calling it the largest settlement with a single entity in American history.

Schneiderman chairs the RMBS working group, which has spent the past year investigating RMBS issues on behalf of state and federal regulators. The bank reached the deal with the RMBS Working Group, the Department of Justice, and countless other agencies.

The settlement reportedly resolves federal and civil claims related to the bank’s packaging, marketing, sale and issuance of mortgage-backed securities prior to the housing downturn. It also covers legacy issues left over from Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, two entities JPM took over in the wake of the financial meltdown.

As part of the final agreement, JPMorgan will pay $9 billion, while also providing $4 billion in consumer relief in the form of loan modifications for borrowers at risk of foreclosure.

New York state alone will receive $1 billion from the settlement, including $613 million in cash and another $400 million in consumer relief for struggling borrowers in the state.

Some of the aid will fund families impacted by Superstorm Sandy, with the rest going to legal services and counseling for distressed New York homeowners.

The RMBS Working Group that Schneiderman co-chairs helped usher in the deal. The organization is a joint state and federal effort launched back in 2012 to engage several agencies in the fight against legacy RMBS issues. Those entities include the Department of Justice and various federal and state law enforcement groups.

“Since my first day in office, I have insisted that there must be accountability for the misconduct that led to the crash of the housing market and the collapse of the American economy,” said Attorney General Schneiderman in a statement. “This historic deal, which will bring long-overdue relief to homeowners around the country and across New York, is exactly what our working group was created to do.”

 

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28036-its-official-jpmorgan-signs-13b-mbs-settlement-deal-with-the-doj

More properties going to the auction block as judicial foreclosure states clear backlogs | South Salem Real Estate

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Foreclosure backlogs continue to ease in states where courts handle the process as the number of properties headed to the auction block climbed for the 16th month in a row in October, according to the latest report from foreclosure data aggregator RealtyTrac.

Overall U.S. foreclosure activity — filings of default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — rose 2 percent from September to October, but was down 28 percent year over year. Filings came in on 133,919 U.S. properties, or 1 in every 978 units. Florida, Nevada, Maryland, Ohio and Illinois posted the nation’s highest foreclosure rates among states.

But the total number of scheduled judicial foreclosure auctions, or “notices of foreclosure sale,” increased 7 percent on an annual basis last month and 10 percent on a monthly basis to 30,023. Judicial foreclosure states with the biggest annual spikes in auctions included Maryland (up 177 percent), Delaware (up 142 percent), New York (up 98 percent), New Jersey (up 97 percent), Pennsylvania (up 58 percent), Connecticut (up 35 percent), and Florida (up 32 percent), RealtyTrac said.

“The backlog of delayed judicial foreclosures continues to make its way through the pipeline, with many of these properties now being scheduled for the public auction after starting the foreclosure process last year or earlier this year,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, in a statement.

“Lenders are likely moving these properties more rapidly to the public auction given that there is strong demand from institutional buy-to-rent investors at the auction and that rising home prices mean more of the loan losses can be recouped, either by selling to an investor at the auction or by repossessing the property and reselling as bank owned.”

 

 

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/11/13/more-properties-going-to-the-auction-block-as-judicial-foreclosure-states-clear-backlogs/#sthash.O8QuuyEh.dpuf

Consumer confidence in homebuying hits all-time low | South Salem Real Estate

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Consumer confidence in housing significantly widened last month, as most taxpayers were turned off by the federal government shutdown and the ongoing debt ceiling debate, taking a toll on American’s outlook toward the housing market.

The share of consumers who believe it’s a good time buy a house declined to 65% — an all-time low — while the number of those who believe mortgage rates will go up in the next year fell to 57%, according to Fannie Mae’s latest monthly survey.

It’s important to note that the survey was conducted primarily in the first two weeks of October – before the government shutdown ended and the debt ceiling agreement was reached.

Generally speaking, buying a home is a bet on the future and the federal freeze created a lot of uncertainty about the near-term economic state, explained Trulia (TRLA) chief economist Jed Kolko.

“Also, affordability has worsened: both rising mortgage rates and rising home prices have pushed more homes out of reach of the middle class, which would also lead to a decline in people thinking it’s a good time to buy,” he added.

The gap between the share of consumers who say the economy is on the wrong track and those who believe all engines are a-go widened from 16 percentage points in September to 40 percentages points in October — a record month-over-month change.

Nonetheless, the steep decline in Americans’ housing sentiment, which is expected to continue to tumble down as housing debates continue to heat up, Fannie Mae senior vice president and chief economist Doug Duncan doesn’t believe it will derail the gradual healing in housing.

“While this decline in consumer optimism may portend a slowing of the housing recovery, supply constraint data suggest that we are likely to see continued positive growth in home prices,” Duncan said.

He added, “That being said, October’s survey results suggest that consumer attitudes are highly responsive to ongoing debate and decision-making in Washington. Three key budget and debt ceiling dates loom in December, January, and February. The handling of each will likely play a key role in determining the pace and timing of any recovery in consumer sentiment.”

The average 12-month price change expectation continued to fall, dropping 0.2% to 2.9%.

Additionally the share of people who believe home prices will go up in the next 12 months fell to 36%, while those who say prices will go down, increase to 10%.

The share of respondents who say they would buy if they were going to move increased to 70%, a new high.

Interestingly, the share of consumers who said their personal financial situation would get worse in the next 12 months hit a new high of 22%.

Consequently, the amount of respondents who say the economy is on the right track fell 12 percentage points, which is the biggest monthly record change in the survey’s history.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/27847-consumer-confidence-in-homebuying-hits-an-all-time-low

Gruesome incidents may not be disclosed to homebuyers | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Halloween is upon us and some house hunters out there may be wondering what spooky things have occurred in the homes they’re eyeing. Tales of haunted real estate abound at this time of year, and they are often tied to a particularly traumatic incident in a home’s history. But the reality is that most prospective buyers may not find out about any such incident unless they ask.

In most states, a murder, suicide or other violent crime occurring in a home does not have to be disclosed, Walt Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, told USA Today.

Most lawmakers agree the psychological damage of such an incident in a home would not be a material defect that should be required to be disclosed to buyers, the paper said.

But at least one case is heading to a state supreme court next month. In 2007, Pennsylvania homeowner Janet Milliken found out her home, purchased the year before, had been the scene of a murder-suicide after experiencing several disturbing incidents in the home, including the sound of a gun clicking.

She filed suit against the former owner of the house and the real estate agents involved in the deal, alleging fraud and breach of the state’s real-estate disclosure law.

Source: USA Today

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/gruesome-incidents-may-not-be-disclosed-to-homebuyers/#sthash.CgJAr5ol.dpuf

Why Home Sales Fell Last Month | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Home sales fell significantly from August to September, and real estate industry experts are pointing to higher interest rates and skittish consumer sentiment for the decline.

The National Association of Realtors is out with data this week showing its benchmark Pending Home Sales Index fell from 107.6 in August to 101.6 in September.

The NAR says that “higher mortgage rate and higher mortgage prices curbed buying power” in September, and the lead-up to the federal government debt standoff Oct. 1 didn’t help matters, either.

“Declining housing affordability conditions are likely responsible for the bulk of reduced contract activity,” says Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. “In addition, government and contract workers were on the sidelines with growing insecurity over lawmakers’ inability to agree on a budget. A broader hit on consumer confidence from general uncertainty also curbs major expenditures such as home purchases.”

Yun is fairly bearish on sales of existing homes, although residential home prices should weather the storm – at least for the next 60 to 90 days or so.

Overall, he says, pending home sales are at a 2.5 year low on a year-to-year basis. And that’s a troubling sign for the near-term future on home sales.

“This tells us to expect lower home sales for the fourth quarter, with a flat trend going into 2014,” Yun says. “Even so, ongoing inventory shortages will continue to lift home prices, though at a slower single-digit growth rate next year.”

One factor that could derail that prediction are U.S. mortgage rates, which fell last week. According to the BankingMyWay Weekly Mortgage Rate Tracker, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 4.37% to 4.26%. Those numbers are roughly supported by Freddie Mac, which has 30-year rates falling from 4.57% in early September to 4.13% in late October.

Historically, lower mortgage rates lead to stronger home sales, not weaker home sales.

But in a residential home sales market with myriad moving parts, lower interest rates alone — if they remain low, which is no guarantee — may not be enough to propel the housing market forward. A stronger jobs picture, more robust consumer sentiment and some stabilization among warring political factions in Washington, D.C., would all also have to round into form to keep home sales churning.

That may still happen, but after some solid numbers coming out of the real estate market (see here and here), the NAR report is a sobering one for the real estate market.

 

 

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12087307/1/why-home-sales-fell-last-month.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

Dropping Knowledge: When is the Best Time to Sell a Place? | South Salem Real Estate

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Welcome to Dropping Knowledge, a new video series in which we offer pieces of advice—one-minute or less—from experts in the world of real estate and architecture. Our first guest, well-known to Curbed readers, is the one and only Jonathan Miller, who will teach us about apartment values and the market. Want to nominate a future guest? Let us know.

 

Appraiser, graph guru, and Three Cents Worth columnist Jonathan Miller is a source of much wisdom regarding the real estate market, so he was a natural first choice for Dropping Knowledge, a new video series featuring answers to common market questions. Today, JMillz answers a frequent market query: when is the best time to sell your apartment? Have questions you’d like answered in future videos? Please leave them in comments or via the tipline. · Three Cents Worth archive [Curbed] · Curbed Moving Pictures archive [Curbed]

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/10/08/dropping_knowledge_when_is_the_best_time_to_sell_a_place.php