MortgagesAre Housing Fundamentals Still Deteriorating?This post first appeared on Minyanville. There’s a good amount of buzz surrounding the Wall Street Journal’s piece on the staggering number of homeowners underwater on their mortgages. This, on the same day the Case-Shiller Home Price Index posted its fourth consecutive month-over-month increase. Mixed signals? Possibly. But in reality, these two seemingly disparate data [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Trial Modifications Are CriminalThis post first appeared on Minyanville. The Obama administration is busy touting the burgeoning success of its mortgage modification program. Unfortunately, it’s a farce: Out of one side of his mouth, the President touts a dedication to the besieged middle class, while from the other, lauds a loan modification program which steals money from struggling [...] Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market – October 2009In this month’s issue, check out: The State of the Markets – 10/7/2009 Rents fall, vacancies rise. Opportunity abounds. Feature: To Condo or TIC, That is the Question Explaining why TICs are cheaper than Condos. Zip Code Spotlight: 94703 / 94608 / 94609 – South Berkeley / West Oakland Discover one of the hottest real [...] Housing Perspective: July Case/Shiller Home Price IndexThe housing market got another boost this morning, as July’s S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index registered its biggest monthly increase in almost four years. The 20-city index rose 1.2% in July from the month before, the biggest jump since October 2005, according to Bloomberg. Even though the monthly price figures have been increasing now for [...] Deal or No Deal RESULTS: Tend Your Crops in Noe ValleyCirios Verdict: DEAL (Click here for the original Deal or No Deal post) The subject is located at the far southern tip of Noe Valley in San Francisco. The homes does not have a garage which makes it less desirable than most of the other SFRs on the market. In addition, the home has quite [...] Housing Perspective: August New Home SalesMarket imbalances are resolved through two primary mechanisms: Time and price. To be sure, the imbalance in new homes remains, despite a recent uptick in buying activity in real estate markets across the country. And as builders slash prices and time drags on, slowly but surely the backlog of newly constructed homes is being worked [...] Housing Perspective: August Existing Home SalesThe resolve of the nascent US housing market recovery is about to be put to the test. Existing home sales slipped in August, breaking a string of four straight months of rising sales. Purchases fell 2.7% in August from the month before, which was below analysis expectations, according to Bloomberg, One kernel of good news [...] Deal or No Deal: Tend Your Crops in Noe ValleyFor anyone in the market for a single family residence in Noe Valley under $1 million, pickings are slim, at best. Condos, sure, they’re a dime a dozen as the Noe Valley condo market follows rents off the proverbial cliff, but the attractive single family home for less than 7 figures is a rare find [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Just How Hot Is the Housing Market?This post first appeared on Minyanville. It seems that with each passing month, the data gods deliver more and more evidence that the woe begotten US housing market may finally be emerging from its years-long doldrums. Existing home sales: Up. New home sales: Up. Pending home sales: Up. Home prices: Down, but at a slower [...] Housing Perspective: July Pending Home SalesHomes under contract to buy rose in July for the sixth straight month, reaffirming the widely held view that the worst of the housing market correction is behind us. The index of pending home sales rose 3.2% from the month before, according to Bloomberg. Even Mark Zandi, the famously bearish chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Allocating Stimulus to Land BanksThis post first appeared on Minyanville. After four years of searing pain, the US housing market is finally showing signs of life. And even as the causes and relative sustainability of this nascent “recovery” are being hotly debated, traditional buyers and investors alike are jumping into the market for homes with both feet. It now [...] Housing Perspective: July New Home SalesOptimism about the housing market is reaching near-unanimous levels. Sales of new homes in July rose 9.6% from the month before, the biggest jump since the height of the housing boom in 2005. According to Bloomberg, inventories of new homes also fell to the lowest level in 16 years. Purchase activity was the strongest in [...] Housing Perspective: June S&P Case Shiller Home Price IndexBroad measures of home prices continue to show improvements, as the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index registered its second straight monthly increase. According to the Wall Street Journal, Case Shiller’s 20-city index ticked up on a quarterly basis 1.4% from the three months ending May 31. 2 cities still showed month-over-month declines, woeful Detroit and [...] Housing Perspective: July Existing Home SalesEclipsing even the most optimistic expectations, July existing home sales registered a 2-year high this morning, jumping 7.2% from last month. According to Bloomberg, the National Association of Realtors (or NAR) reported that transactions climbed to a 5.24 million annualized pace, the highest rate since August of 2007. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, the man [...] Housing Perspective: July Homebuilder SentimentThe bounce rolls on. This morning, US Homebuilders gave their most positive outlook on the market in the past 12 months, as the National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index ticked up to 18, from 17. To be sure, 18 is a dismal reading, but builders appear to see a light at the end [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: How Long Can the Housing Bounce Last?This article first appeared on Minyanville. The only question that really matters in the housing market right now is the following: Does the recent strengthening in sales data signal an imminent bottom, or are we smack in the middle of a dead-cat bounce? The answer, of course, is complicated. And as I’ve discussed in the [...] Housing Perspective: June Pending Home SalesPositive data continues to emerge from the housing market, as buyers take advantage of home prices that have fallen dramatically from their peak, along with low interest rates, tax credits and a stock market that can’t seem to be kept down. Pending Home Sales in June, which measure signed purchase contracts and are often examined [...] Keeping It Real Estate: Collapse in Luxury Market More Revealing Than It AppearsThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It only took 18 months, but the fact that the US luxury real estate market is falling apart at the seams is finally starting to sink in. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal chronicled the plight of high-end housing markets, as formerly wealthy homeowners are falling behind on their mortgages at [...] Deal or No Deal RESULTS: New to Nob HillCirios Verdict: NO DEAL (Click here for the original Deal or No Deal post) The subject is a recently renovated TIC in a desirable part of Nob Hill. This unit has everything that adds value to a property including 2 bathrooms, parking, washer/dryer and outdoor space. The common area is on the small side as [...] Housing Perspective: May S&P Case Shiller Home Price IndexThe housing market got another piece of “good” data today, as the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index registered its first month-over-month uptick in almost 3 years, according to Bloomberg. The increase was nominal, to be sure, at a mere 0.5% from the prior month, but it was an increase nonetheless. As can be seen [...] Deal or No Deal: New to Nob HillAs the San Francisco rental market softens, so too is the market for condos and TICs (Tenancy in Common). This bodes well for buyers — as long as they can be patient. In general, we do not forsee a stabilization in the lower end of the condo/TIC market in San Francisco in the near term, [...] Housing Perspective: June New Home SalesIt’s been a long time since the housing market has set a record that wasn’t something like, “Worst since…,” “Biggest decline since…,” or “….since the Great Depression.” The Commerce Department reported today that sales of new homes leapt in June, up 11% from May. According to Bloomberg, the figure marks the biggest monthly gain since [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Why Housing Prices Are Essentially MeaninglessThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It took the Wall Street Journal an entire survey to prove what readers of this column have known for months: The housing recovery, as it plays out, will be a localized event, varying greatly city to city, neighborhood to neighborhood, street to street. The Journal, god bless them, compiled [...] Housing Perspective: June Existing Home SalesLies, damn lies and (NAR) statistics. Indeed. The National Association of Realtors (or NAR) released data today showing that sales of existing homes crept up in June, the 3rd consecutive up month. While sales were a touch lower than they were a year ago, the annualized, seasonally adjusted sale figure was up 3.6% from May. [...] |