Mood of the Market
By Tara-Nicholle Nelson
Inman News™
Over the last seven weeks we've taken a tour through the psyche of real estate consumers -- a group that includes each of us, really, who pays for a place to live.
We have explored how the various investor desires, motivations and values illuminated in Meir Statman's new business classic-to-be, "What Investors Really Want: Discover What Drives Investor Behavior and Make Smarter Financial Decisions," play out in our real-life real estate decisions.
We've seen that just as stock market investors want to win and not lose, want status, and exercise the highly fallible -- though sometimes useful -- form of psychological bookkeeping known as mental accounting, so do buyers, sellers, homeowners and sometimes even renters.
For the most part, we've explored the substance of what we want, rather than the process of how we want it. But there are real desires we, the human race, have when it comes to the "how" around our financial decisions, real estate and otherwise; Statman calls some of them out when he declares that investors really "want education, advice and protection."
Statman compiles meaty evidentiary proof of this declaration from facts like:
the massive investor interest in culling investment information from the Internet;
the fact that financial literacy is a prerequisite for achieving the prosperity most of us crave;
the cyclical ebb and flow of cravings for the government's protection of us -- largely from ourselves -- via regulation of how deeply we can leverage our own interests and how much advantage can be taken by financial predators; and
the vast desire investors have for financial advice, including the paid advice of professional advisers, but especially the free sort they trade with each other on personal finance blogs and Internet forums.
The world of real estate has not only gone through these same trends, but I submit that the pudding in which lives the proof that consumers want information and education, advice and protection is thicker when it comes to real estate than in virtually any other sector.
To wit: the evolution of real estate on the Web. Once upon a time, homebuyers had to consult an agent, who had to consult a paper book that was delivered only to agents, just to find out which homes were for sale, their prices and other details.
In response to an ever-escalating consumer clamor for this information, multiple sites now make every detail about a home -- from whether or not it's for sale; to its price; to its number of bedrooms, bathrooms and square feet; to when it was last sold and for how much; to what it's supposedly worth -- available to anyone, anytime, anywhere, all in a couple of clicks.
Anyone can see a ground-level street view of the vast majority of homes in America, what people think of the neighborhood, even whether a home's owners are behind on their mortgage or have received a foreclosure notice: click, click, click.
Wanna see pics of Nicolas Cage's house? Click here. Heard a "Real Housewife" was in foreclosure and just need to know? Click. Their gilt Rococoed, leopard-printed, McMansioned domestic world is your virtual, visual oyster (for better or for worse).
And virtually all the same sites that have made this information available in response to popular demand also feed consumer cravings for education and advice.
Most offer basic briefings on various real estate issues; virtually all of them offer education/advice hybrids by offering connections to real estate brokers and agents and discussion communities in which anyone can ask a question and get a first, second and 44th opinion from local agents not-so-covertly vying for (a) the asker's business, and/or (b) the opportunity to exhibit local knowledge and professional expertise -- not just to the asker, but to prospective clients searching for them or the subject matter on the Web in perpetuity.
(And, lest I forget, those who ask their urgent real estate questions on these communities will frequently get an answer or so from another consumer -- usually a cranky, anonymous one whose advice generally runs along one of three veins: (a) agents and mortgage brokers suck, (b) homeownership sucks, and/or (c) the government sucks. Not so nuanced, and not so helpful, but a clear case in point that some consumers not only want advice -- they also want to give it.)
Even offline, it's not at all bizarre for today's home sellers to interview three or four prospective listing agents to gather advice and opinions, and every buyer's broker has heard a client recount the real estate advice they have been given by their hairdresser, veterinarian, barista or ob-gyn.
Education, information, advice -- consumer cravings for these are clear -- but protection is a little more complicated. In "What Investors Really Want," Statman writes: "Our desire for paternalistic protection from ourselves and others increases when we experience the sad consequences of our own behavior or the behavior of others."
It is on this topic that Statman makes one of only a handful of "What Investors Really Want" references to real estate, making the hindsight observation that regulation limiting homeowners' ability to leverage their own homes might have made sense, given the woeful consequences of overleveraging (i.e., the foreclosure crisis which is currently at four years and running).
Translation: We don't want the government to limit our ability to mortgage our homes when values are skyrocketing, because we want to be able to max out the house we can buy for the money.
But when those adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) start adjusting, our maxed-out neighbors start walking away and the resulting foreclosures cause property values to plummet, while our craving for government protection from predatory lenders, liar's loans and confusing boilerplate loan docs takes a steep uptick.
Do real estate consumers crave information, education and advice just as much -- maybe even more -- than traded-asset investors? Absolutely. And just like stock investors, housing consumers also want government protection from lenders, mortgage brokers, agents and themselves, after their own decisions have spanked them with the consequences of a largely unregulated mortgage market. What remains to be seen is how long the desire for protection will last.
I suspect it will last as long as home values are low and rates of foreclosure and negative equity are high. But I hope that the lessons from this national tragedy -- massive losses in wealth, jobs and families' homes and health -- including the need for more intense mortgage market regulation, do not disappear when property values start to make a comeback.
Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of "The Savvy Woman's Homebuying Handbook" and "Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions." Tara is also the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com. Ask her a real estate question online or visit her website, www.rethinkrealestate.com.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
10 cities with top schools: a range of real estate prices
Report: Median home value runs from $148K to $1.3M
By Inman News
Inman News™
A list of the nation's top 10 cities with top-performing public schools challenges the idea that the best schools can only be found in the most expensive housing markets, announced a report from school ratings site GreatSchools and business magazine Forbes.com.
"The two biggest life stage decisions a family makes are finding a great place to live and excellent schools for their kids," said Bill Jackson, CEO and president of GreatSchools, in a statement.
"Great schools exist within every housing budget. This is good news to REALTORS® who want to help their clients when relocating to a new area," the report added.
The Northeast, the West and the South each accounted for three cities in the top 10 list. The Midwest accounted for one. That city, Pella, Iowa, had the lowest median home value among the ten: $148,200. Manhattan Beach, Calif. had the highest: $1,278,980.
Cities with home values between $200,000 and $399,999 accounted for the biggest share: three out of ten cities.
GreatSchools analyzed various data points for the report, including public school test scores, median home prices, population, and unemployment rates. The site considered 17,589 towns and cities in 49 states and Washington, D.C.
Cities in Nebraska were not considered because the state lacks a single statewide standardized test.
Towns with populations under 10,000, fewer than five K-12 public schools, or unemployment rates higher than the state average were also not considered.
Small cities prevailed in the report. The city with the largest population was Manhattan Beach, with a population of 37,745. Five of the top 10 cities had the minimum number of schools -- five -- required for consideration.
"Cities with sprawling, unified school districts like Houston and Los Angeles might harbor extremely high-scoring schools whose results are cancelled out by under-performing ones," Forbes said in its article about the report.
City # schools Pop.
(2009) Median home
value (Q3 2010) Unem-
ployment
(Nov. 2010) Educational
Quality
Index
1. Falmouth, Maine 5 10,669 $351,550 5.0% 100.00
2. Mercer Island, Wash. 5 24,351 $708,740 8.7% 99.12
3. Pella, Iowa 5 10,475 $148,200 5.3% 98.25
4. Barrington, R.I. 6 16,284 $296,010 9.7% 97.96
5. Bedford, N.H. 6 21,504 $293,730 5.5% 97.96
6. Moraga, Calif. 5 16,465 $722,010 11.5% 97.69
7. Manhattan Beach, Calif. 7 37,745 $1,278,980 4.5% 97.69
8. Parkland, Fla. 5 25,106 $426,390 9.7% 95.98
9. St. Johns, Fla. 9 18,063 $181,700 10.3% 95.98
10. Southlake, Texas 12 26,297 $476,880 8.2% 95.74
Source: GreatSchools/Forbes.
By Inman News
Inman News™
A list of the nation's top 10 cities with top-performing public schools challenges the idea that the best schools can only be found in the most expensive housing markets, announced a report from school ratings site GreatSchools and business magazine Forbes.com.
"The two biggest life stage decisions a family makes are finding a great place to live and excellent schools for their kids," said Bill Jackson, CEO and president of GreatSchools, in a statement.
"Great schools exist within every housing budget. This is good news to REALTORS® who want to help their clients when relocating to a new area," the report added.
The Northeast, the West and the South each accounted for three cities in the top 10 list. The Midwest accounted for one. That city, Pella, Iowa, had the lowest median home value among the ten: $148,200. Manhattan Beach, Calif. had the highest: $1,278,980.
Cities with home values between $200,000 and $399,999 accounted for the biggest share: three out of ten cities.
GreatSchools analyzed various data points for the report, including public school test scores, median home prices, population, and unemployment rates. The site considered 17,589 towns and cities in 49 states and Washington, D.C.
Cities in Nebraska were not considered because the state lacks a single statewide standardized test.
Towns with populations under 10,000, fewer than five K-12 public schools, or unemployment rates higher than the state average were also not considered.
Small cities prevailed in the report. The city with the largest population was Manhattan Beach, with a population of 37,745. Five of the top 10 cities had the minimum number of schools -- five -- required for consideration.
"Cities with sprawling, unified school districts like Houston and Los Angeles might harbor extremely high-scoring schools whose results are cancelled out by under-performing ones," Forbes said in its article about the report.
City # schools Pop.
(2009) Median home
value (Q3 2010) Unem-
ployment
(Nov. 2010) Educational
Quality
Index
1. Falmouth, Maine 5 10,669 $351,550 5.0% 100.00
2. Mercer Island, Wash. 5 24,351 $708,740 8.7% 99.12
3. Pella, Iowa 5 10,475 $148,200 5.3% 98.25
4. Barrington, R.I. 6 16,284 $296,010 9.7% 97.96
5. Bedford, N.H. 6 21,504 $293,730 5.5% 97.96
6. Moraga, Calif. 5 16,465 $722,010 11.5% 97.69
7. Manhattan Beach, Calif. 7 37,745 $1,278,980 4.5% 97.69
8. Parkland, Fla. 5 25,106 $426,390 9.7% 95.98
9. St. Johns, Fla. 9 18,063 $181,700 10.3% 95.98
10. Southlake, Texas 12 26,297 $476,880 8.2% 95.74
Source: GreatSchools/Forbes.
Colorado property valuations trend down, though some see an increase
County assessors across the state are sending out notices of valuation over the next few days listing what they estimate properties are worth.
In the metro area, most notices will show a decline in property values, especially for high-end homes and commercial buildings.
But some affordable neighborhoods boosted by last year's homebuyer tax credits are showing increases.
Counties assess property values every two years, and those valuations are used to calculate property taxes due over the following two years.
In Denver, about 32 percent of all homes received a higher valuation, while the rest will see declines, said Paul Jacobs, the county assessor. The median decline for residential properties in Denver is
Arapahoe County had a wide divergence, with large price declines in the Cherry Hills and Greenwood Village areas, while areas of Aurora rebounded, said Assessor Corbin Sakdol. Overall, residential values also were down 4.8 percent.
Douglas County suffered the biggest drop in residential values of any metro county at 8.9 percent. Some ritzier areas lost 20 percent or more. And for the first time, raw-land values in the county fell, said Assessor Teri Cox.
Boulder County saw a 2.6 percent decline in overall residential values, while Jefferson County saw a 2.1 percent decline in single-family homes, and Adams County was off 1.7 percent.
Broomfield County reported mostly stable values, with an overall decline of only 0.73 percent, Assessor John Storb said.
Properties were valued as of June 30, 2010, which represented good timing from a county perspective.
Homebuyer tax credits reversed a decline in home prices and lifted them higher through June 2010, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for metro Denver. And while the index shows home prices sliding again, that won't show up until the next cycle.
Commercial properties, which cover a disproportionate share of overall property taxes, were hard hit after the credit crisis in late 2008.
Higher-end homes fell sharply, and a lack of new construction has kept the overall property base from growing in many counties.
Property owners who disagree with a valuation have until June 1 to protest, said JoAnn Groff, the state's property-tax administrator.
Anyone protesting should remember that comparable sales or appraisals after June 30, 2010, don't count. They should also weigh the costs and benefits of hiring outside help, given that protests can be done for free.
The most successful protests result when the assessor has details about the property wrong, such as listing it with four bedrooms when there are only three.
Jacobs said that in Denver, about half the protests result in changes favorable to the owner.
In the metro area, most notices will show a decline in property values, especially for high-end homes and commercial buildings.
But some affordable neighborhoods boosted by last year's homebuyer tax credits are showing increases.
Counties assess property values every two years, and those valuations are used to calculate property taxes due over the following two years.
In Denver, about 32 percent of all homes received a higher valuation, while the rest will see declines, said Paul Jacobs, the county assessor. The median decline for residential properties in Denver is
Arapahoe County had a wide divergence, with large price declines in the Cherry Hills and Greenwood Village areas, while areas of Aurora rebounded, said Assessor Corbin Sakdol. Overall, residential values also were down 4.8 percent.
Douglas County suffered the biggest drop in residential values of any metro county at 8.9 percent. Some ritzier areas lost 20 percent or more. And for the first time, raw-land values in the county fell, said Assessor Teri Cox.
Boulder County saw a 2.6 percent decline in overall residential values, while Jefferson County saw a 2.1 percent decline in single-family homes, and Adams County was off 1.7 percent.
Broomfield County reported mostly stable values, with an overall decline of only 0.73 percent, Assessor John Storb said.
Properties were valued as of June 30, 2010, which represented good timing from a county perspective.
Homebuyer tax credits reversed a decline in home prices and lifted them higher through June 2010, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for metro Denver. And while the index shows home prices sliding again, that won't show up until the next cycle.
Commercial properties, which cover a disproportionate share of overall property taxes, were hard hit after the credit crisis in late 2008.
Higher-end homes fell sharply, and a lack of new construction has kept the overall property base from growing in many counties.
Property owners who disagree with a valuation have until June 1 to protest, said JoAnn Groff, the state's property-tax administrator.
Anyone protesting should remember that comparable sales or appraisals after June 30, 2010, don't count. They should also weigh the costs and benefits of hiring outside help, given that protests can be done for free.
The most successful protests result when the assessor has details about the property wrong, such as listing it with four bedrooms when there are only three.
Jacobs said that in Denver, about half the protests result in changes favorable to the owner.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
New apartments going up at Stapleton
Denver Business Journal
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 6:47am MDT - Last Modified: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 7:02am MDT
Read more: New apartments going up at Stapleton | Denver Business Journal
Forest City Enterprises Inc. said Tuesday it's planning to break ground this summer on two apartment complexes at Stapleton that together will have 338 units.
Stapleton, the sprawling development on the site of Denver’s old Stapleton International Airport, now has nearly 500 apartments.
Read more: New apartments going up at Stapleton | Denver Business Journal
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 6:47am MDT - Last Modified: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 7:02am MDT
Read more: New apartments going up at Stapleton | Denver Business Journal
Forest City Enterprises Inc. said Tuesday it's planning to break ground this summer on two apartment complexes at Stapleton that together will have 338 units.
Stapleton, the sprawling development on the site of Denver’s old Stapleton International Airport, now has nearly 500 apartments.
Read more: New apartments going up at Stapleton | Denver Business Journal
Metro Denver assessors lowering most property valuations
Denver Business Journal - by Heather Draper
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 12:51pm MDT
More than 750,000 property owners throughout the seven-county Denver metro area will receive notices of valuation in the mail in the next several days, with most expected to get news that their property values are lower.
The new valuations are based on an 18- to 24-month data-gathering period that captured market prices as they were on June 30, 2010, according to the county assessor’s offices of the seven counties, which issued a joint press release on Wednesday.
All City and County of Denver real property markets have declined since the 2009 valuation, with single-family homes, condos and townhomes experiencing an overall median drop of 4.8 percent. On an individual basis, 31.7 percent of residential values increased while 68.3 percent went down.
Residential condos, as a group, fell 5.8 percent in Denver County, while large apartment buildings dropped 1.3 percent.
All of Denver’s non-residential property groups also fell, with large downtown office buildings down 9.6 percent in value, retail properties down 10.6 percent, manufacturing and warehouse facilities down 15.2 percent and hotels down 16.5 percent, according to the assessors’ data.
Denver’s property tax base has been cut by 9.6 percent, the report said.
In Adams County, residential values dropped only slightly — about 0.017 percent — while agricultural values experienced the biggest increase, up 12 percent, according to the assessor’s office.
Arapahoe County experienced a wide range of valuation changes between July 2008 and June 2010, the assessor’s office there said. Residential values were down 4.8 percent countywide, with the biggest value declines in Cherry Hills Village and Greenwood Village.
Some areas in Aurora, however, that had dropped in value two years ago, were experiencing substantially improved values. Commercial values also trended slightly lower, according to the assessor’s office.
Residential values in Boulder County dropped 2.7 percent countywide, with condos taking the biggest hit, according to the assessor’s office. Commercial and industrial properties were down more than 3 percent, while ag properties increased by more than 4 percent.
Broomfield County saw only a slight decline in residential values, with a drop of 0.73 percent. Foreclosures didn’t significantly affect the Broomfield market, the assessor’s office said. Commercial and industrial values fell by about 5 percent in Broomfield.
In Douglas County, including Highlands Ranch and Stonegate, the residential value countywide dropped 8.8 percent, while the commercial value overall fell 5.6 percent.
The Douglas County assessor noted that it would, in an effort to save money, send post cards regarding the valuation changes, with long forms available on the assessor’s website.
The median percentage value decline for Jefferson County single family homes was 2.1 percent, with the largest drops in Conifer and Evergreen. Homes in Wheat Ridge and Edgewater actually increased in value. On the business side, value decreases averaged 3.5 percent, with the largest drops in the office, retail and manufacturing sectors.
Colorado law requires property values for tax purposes to be completely updated every two years.
Owners who agree with the new values don’t need to do anything, but anyone who disagrees has the option of filing a protest. Complete protest instructions will be included with the valuation notices, according to the assessors.
Read more: Metro Denver assessors lowering most property valuations | Denver Business Journal
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 12:51pm MDT
More than 750,000 property owners throughout the seven-county Denver metro area will receive notices of valuation in the mail in the next several days, with most expected to get news that their property values are lower.
The new valuations are based on an 18- to 24-month data-gathering period that captured market prices as they were on June 30, 2010, according to the county assessor’s offices of the seven counties, which issued a joint press release on Wednesday.
All City and County of Denver real property markets have declined since the 2009 valuation, with single-family homes, condos and townhomes experiencing an overall median drop of 4.8 percent. On an individual basis, 31.7 percent of residential values increased while 68.3 percent went down.
Residential condos, as a group, fell 5.8 percent in Denver County, while large apartment buildings dropped 1.3 percent.
All of Denver’s non-residential property groups also fell, with large downtown office buildings down 9.6 percent in value, retail properties down 10.6 percent, manufacturing and warehouse facilities down 15.2 percent and hotels down 16.5 percent, according to the assessors’ data.
Denver’s property tax base has been cut by 9.6 percent, the report said.
In Adams County, residential values dropped only slightly — about 0.017 percent — while agricultural values experienced the biggest increase, up 12 percent, according to the assessor’s office.
Arapahoe County experienced a wide range of valuation changes between July 2008 and June 2010, the assessor’s office there said. Residential values were down 4.8 percent countywide, with the biggest value declines in Cherry Hills Village and Greenwood Village.
Some areas in Aurora, however, that had dropped in value two years ago, were experiencing substantially improved values. Commercial values also trended slightly lower, according to the assessor’s office.
Residential values in Boulder County dropped 2.7 percent countywide, with condos taking the biggest hit, according to the assessor’s office. Commercial and industrial properties were down more than 3 percent, while ag properties increased by more than 4 percent.
Broomfield County saw only a slight decline in residential values, with a drop of 0.73 percent. Foreclosures didn’t significantly affect the Broomfield market, the assessor’s office said. Commercial and industrial values fell by about 5 percent in Broomfield.
In Douglas County, including Highlands Ranch and Stonegate, the residential value countywide dropped 8.8 percent, while the commercial value overall fell 5.6 percent.
The Douglas County assessor noted that it would, in an effort to save money, send post cards regarding the valuation changes, with long forms available on the assessor’s website.
The median percentage value decline for Jefferson County single family homes was 2.1 percent, with the largest drops in Conifer and Evergreen. Homes in Wheat Ridge and Edgewater actually increased in value. On the business side, value decreases averaged 3.5 percent, with the largest drops in the office, retail and manufacturing sectors.
Colorado law requires property values for tax purposes to be completely updated every two years.
Owners who agree with the new values don’t need to do anything, but anyone who disagrees has the option of filing a protest. Complete protest instructions will be included with the valuation notices, according to the assessors.
Read more: Metro Denver assessors lowering most property valuations | Denver Business Journal
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Rehabbed REOs Sell Faster, Study Finds
Banks who spend the extra cash to rehab a foreclosed or REO property stand to sell the property much faster than a non-rehabbed REO, according to a new study by Field Asset Services Inc., a property preservation and REO asset management company.
For the last two years, the company has analyzed the number of days on market for remodeled foreclosure or REO properties versus those that are not remodeled.
In reviewing 17,252 properties across 13 states, researchers found that the average days on the market for REO properties that were not rehabbed was 222.8 days. On the other hand, properties that were rehabbed sold, on average, in 69.8 days.
"When a home looks better, it sells faster," Javier Zuluaga, director of sales and marketing for Home Repairs and Remodeling (HR&R) LLC in Tempe, Ariz., told Inman News.
However, the rapid number of foreclosures may be making it difficult for banks to keep up with the pace to do fix ups, which once were more prevalent, says Zuluaga. “Sometime around 2009, the banks simply said, 'We are not going to put all this money into it. We are just going to get the properties cleaned up and if it is missing cabinets, it is missing cabinets--that's just the way it is.'"
But Dale McPherson, president of Field Asset Services, says that based on the study results banks might want to reconsider. “In a market such as Phoenix, where there is an immense amount of foreclosed homes, you might see five or six REO properties on the same street,” McPherson says. “If you want to compete, you need to have the best-looking house on the block."
Source: “Rehabbed REOs Spend Less Time on Market,” Inman News (April 22, 2011)
For the last two years, the company has analyzed the number of days on market for remodeled foreclosure or REO properties versus those that are not remodeled.
In reviewing 17,252 properties across 13 states, researchers found that the average days on the market for REO properties that were not rehabbed was 222.8 days. On the other hand, properties that were rehabbed sold, on average, in 69.8 days.
"When a home looks better, it sells faster," Javier Zuluaga, director of sales and marketing for Home Repairs and Remodeling (HR&R) LLC in Tempe, Ariz., told Inman News.
However, the rapid number of foreclosures may be making it difficult for banks to keep up with the pace to do fix ups, which once were more prevalent, says Zuluaga. “Sometime around 2009, the banks simply said, 'We are not going to put all this money into it. We are just going to get the properties cleaned up and if it is missing cabinets, it is missing cabinets--that's just the way it is.'"
But Dale McPherson, president of Field Asset Services, says that based on the study results banks might want to reconsider. “In a market such as Phoenix, where there is an immense amount of foreclosed homes, you might see five or six REO properties on the same street,” McPherson says. “If you want to compete, you need to have the best-looking house on the block."
Source: “Rehabbed REOs Spend Less Time on Market,” Inman News (April 22, 2011)
Mortgage Applications Rise 5.3%
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 20, 2011) — Mortgage applications increased 5.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 15, 2011.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 5.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5.9 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 2.7 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 10.0 percent to its highest level since December 3, 2010, driven largely by a 17.6 percent increase in Government purchase applications. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 10.9 percent compared with the previous week and was 11.4 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
“Purchase application volume jumped last week largely due to another sharp increase in applications for government loans. Borrowers were likely motivated to apply for loans before the scheduled increase in FHA insurance premiums,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics. “Refinance activity increased somewhat, as rates dropped to their lowest level in a month towards the end of the week.”
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 2.9 percent. The four week moving average is up 2.5 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 5.7 percent for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 58.5 percent of total applications from 60.3 percent the previous week. This is the lowest refinance share since May 7, 2010. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.5 percent from 5.9 percent of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.83 percent from 4.98 percent, with points increasing to 1.07 from 0.93 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.07 percent from 4.17 percent, with points decreasing to 1.02 from 1.22 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate also decreased from last week.
If you would like to purchase a subscription of MBA's Weekly Applications Survey, please contact mbaresearch@mortgagebankers.org or click here.
The survey covers over 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 5.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5.9 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 2.7 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 10.0 percent to its highest level since December 3, 2010, driven largely by a 17.6 percent increase in Government purchase applications. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 10.9 percent compared with the previous week and was 11.4 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
“Purchase application volume jumped last week largely due to another sharp increase in applications for government loans. Borrowers were likely motivated to apply for loans before the scheduled increase in FHA insurance premiums,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics. “Refinance activity increased somewhat, as rates dropped to their lowest level in a month towards the end of the week.”
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 2.9 percent. The four week moving average is up 2.5 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 5.7 percent for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 58.5 percent of total applications from 60.3 percent the previous week. This is the lowest refinance share since May 7, 2010. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.5 percent from 5.9 percent of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.83 percent from 4.98 percent, with points increasing to 1.07 from 0.93 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.07 percent from 4.17 percent, with points decreasing to 1.02 from 1.22 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate also decreased from last week.
If you would like to purchase a subscription of MBA's Weekly Applications Survey, please contact mbaresearch@mortgagebankers.org or click here.
The survey covers over 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Denver light-rail stations to border large multiuse development
High-density development stacked with residences, retail, offices will suit site because that's
By Margaret Jackson
The Denver Post
Read more: Denver light-rail stations to border large multiuse development - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_17913209#ixzz1KSTpMNPv
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Over the next few decades, a high-density development that includes residences, retail and office space will sprout up between two of the region's most prominent light-rail stations.
Under a plan approved in May 2009, the developer of the site, D4 Urban LLC, can build up to 10 million square feet of space on about 75 acres between the Broadway at Interstate 25 and Alameda light-rail stations.
Today, a sea of parking lots separates the retail locations sprawling over the site, which includes three distinct districts: Broadway Marketplace, Denver Design Center and The Collection, the latter two of which are part of the Denver Design District. The buildings total about 900,000 square feet right now.
"It's not consistent with the compact city and modern urban-design principles," said Chris Waggett, chief executive of the newly established D4 Urban, which controls about 60 acres of the area included in the general development plan.
The vision calls for more than 3,000 residences, 350 hotel rooms, 2.6 million square feet of office space, 1.2 million square feet of retail and 200,000 square feet of educational space west of Broadway between Alameda and Ohio avenues, an area roughly the size of Lower Downtown or Cherry Creek North.
Waggett stressed that redevelopment of the site would not begin until market conditions are favorable and financing can be obtained. The team is working on a plan to do the project in phases so existing tenants see as little disruption as possible.
Waggett, former president of Lend Lease, teamed up with the lead investors in the property, Warren Cohen and Jim Frank, to form D4 Urban in February for the purpose of redeveloping the site. Cohen and Frank split their time between Colorado and California.
The location of D4 Urban's site near the Alameda light-rail platform gives them the inside track to develop the 4-acre parking lot serving the station, a project that could start next year.
"We don't want an isolated project on our site that wouldn't relate to what is happening within the marketplace itself," said Bill Sirois, manager of transit-oriented development for the Regional Transportation District, which owns the lot. "Development of our site could be a first step in the evolution of that area."
People in the neighborhoods near the site were involved in the process for both the Alameda Station plan and the general development plan, said Denver City Councilman Chris Nevitt, who represents the district the project is in.
"The plan looks deeply cool," Nevitt said. "Right now, it's just a parking lot with a couple of big-box stores, and the station itself is hidden behind the Kmart."
Several
Click on image to enlarge businesses fronting Broadway, such as Blue Bonnet and Imperial Chinese, are included in the plan, but D4 Urban doesn't control that real estate.
"We've been on Broadway for a long time, and it's great to see some interest and activity that will be taking place," Blue Bonnet owner Gary Mobell said. "This area where we are located is just outside of downtown and very easily accessed from the south side of town. It seems like a natural that this area would have the development taking place."
Broadway Marketplace was developed 17 years ago under a 25-year tax increment financing district set up by the Denver Urban Renewal Authority.
"In that 17 years, people started to recognize the benefits of public transportation, which changes the land usage and how we should develop that land," Waggett said.
But because the property is about 95 percent leased to tenants such as Albertson's, Sam's Club and Kmart, the challenge is how to redevelop the site without disrupting the income flowing to investors. The earliest a lease for an anchor tenant expires is 2018, but some have options that extend to 2069, Waggett said. The designer showrooms in the Denver Design Center and The Collection have shorter leases.
"There's got to be a phasing strategy that retains them in a different format," Waggett said. "We're at the point where we've moved the first pawns on the board. We're doing a ton of planning work, ton of design work and a ton of costing work."
It's likely that multistory buildings would be built for large-format retailers, similar to the recently opened Target at Belmar in Lakewood.
The Denver Design Center, a resource for the region's interior designers, is the lone survivor of what once was a three-way battle among design centers in Denver.
Jo Frank, executive director of Denver Design Center and who also handles leasing for the entire development, said that while development is years away, the plan is exciting.
"It's certainly an important urban project because of the proximity to downtown and access to the two light-rail stations and access to I-25 and the major arterials," Frank said.
Although the development plan was approved two years ago, not much attention was paid to the area. Rather, the focus was on the redevelopment of the old Gates Rubber factory at the Broadway light-rail station.
Gates Corp. took back a portion of the 50-acre former rubber factory south of downtown in 2009 after Cherokee Denver was unable to get financing to continue environmental remediation. The much-touted project, which would have been Denver's largest redevelopment since Stapleton, was expected to cost $1 billion and take up to 15 years to complete. The city had pledged $85 million in public financing toward cleaning up the site and rebuilding it into a residential and retail hub designed around access to public transportation.
While there are no firm plans for the site, a number of developers have been evaluating opportunities.
Also in play is RTD's former bus-barn site at West Alameda and South Santa Fe Drive, now under contract to Alameda Station LLC, which is among the locations Greyhound Lines is considering for its new location.
"We're evaluating a number of different options and trying to respond to the changing market," said Tom Wootten of Alameda Station. "It's nice to see a lot more activity than what we've seen in the last 18 months. We're also looking at retail and apartment uses. We want to make sure we have a development that is viable and sustainable."
By Margaret Jackson
The Denver Post
Read more: Denver light-rail stations to border large multiuse development - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_17913209#ixzz1KSTpMNPv
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
Over the next few decades, a high-density development that includes residences, retail and office space will sprout up between two of the region's most prominent light-rail stations.
Under a plan approved in May 2009, the developer of the site, D4 Urban LLC, can build up to 10 million square feet of space on about 75 acres between the Broadway at Interstate 25 and Alameda light-rail stations.
Today, a sea of parking lots separates the retail locations sprawling over the site, which includes three distinct districts: Broadway Marketplace, Denver Design Center and The Collection, the latter two of which are part of the Denver Design District. The buildings total about 900,000 square feet right now.
"It's not consistent with the compact city and modern urban-design principles," said Chris Waggett, chief executive of the newly established D4 Urban, which controls about 60 acres of the area included in the general development plan.
The vision calls for more than 3,000 residences, 350 hotel rooms, 2.6 million square feet of office space, 1.2 million square feet of retail and 200,000 square feet of educational space west of Broadway between Alameda and Ohio avenues, an area roughly the size of Lower Downtown or Cherry Creek North.
Waggett stressed that redevelopment of the site would not begin until market conditions are favorable and financing can be obtained. The team is working on a plan to do the project in phases so existing tenants see as little disruption as possible.
Waggett, former president of Lend Lease, teamed up with the lead investors in the property, Warren Cohen and Jim Frank, to form D4 Urban in February for the purpose of redeveloping the site. Cohen and Frank split their time between Colorado and California.
The location of D4 Urban's site near the Alameda light-rail platform gives them the inside track to develop the 4-acre parking lot serving the station, a project that could start next year.
"We don't want an isolated project on our site that wouldn't relate to what is happening within the marketplace itself," said Bill Sirois, manager of transit-oriented development for the Regional Transportation District, which owns the lot. "Development of our site could be a first step in the evolution of that area."
People in the neighborhoods near the site were involved in the process for both the Alameda Station plan and the general development plan, said Denver City Councilman Chris Nevitt, who represents the district the project is in.
"The plan looks deeply cool," Nevitt said. "Right now, it's just a parking lot with a couple of big-box stores, and the station itself is hidden behind the Kmart."
Several
Click on image to enlarge businesses fronting Broadway, such as Blue Bonnet and Imperial Chinese, are included in the plan, but D4 Urban doesn't control that real estate.
"We've been on Broadway for a long time, and it's great to see some interest and activity that will be taking place," Blue Bonnet owner Gary Mobell said. "This area where we are located is just outside of downtown and very easily accessed from the south side of town. It seems like a natural that this area would have the development taking place."
Broadway Marketplace was developed 17 years ago under a 25-year tax increment financing district set up by the Denver Urban Renewal Authority.
"In that 17 years, people started to recognize the benefits of public transportation, which changes the land usage and how we should develop that land," Waggett said.
But because the property is about 95 percent leased to tenants such as Albertson's, Sam's Club and Kmart, the challenge is how to redevelop the site without disrupting the income flowing to investors. The earliest a lease for an anchor tenant expires is 2018, but some have options that extend to 2069, Waggett said. The designer showrooms in the Denver Design Center and The Collection have shorter leases.
"There's got to be a phasing strategy that retains them in a different format," Waggett said. "We're at the point where we've moved the first pawns on the board. We're doing a ton of planning work, ton of design work and a ton of costing work."
It's likely that multistory buildings would be built for large-format retailers, similar to the recently opened Target at Belmar in Lakewood.
The Denver Design Center, a resource for the region's interior designers, is the lone survivor of what once was a three-way battle among design centers in Denver.
Jo Frank, executive director of Denver Design Center and who also handles leasing for the entire development, said that while development is years away, the plan is exciting.
"It's certainly an important urban project because of the proximity to downtown and access to the two light-rail stations and access to I-25 and the major arterials," Frank said.
Although the development plan was approved two years ago, not much attention was paid to the area. Rather, the focus was on the redevelopment of the old Gates Rubber factory at the Broadway light-rail station.
Gates Corp. took back a portion of the 50-acre former rubber factory south of downtown in 2009 after Cherokee Denver was unable to get financing to continue environmental remediation. The much-touted project, which would have been Denver's largest redevelopment since Stapleton, was expected to cost $1 billion and take up to 15 years to complete. The city had pledged $85 million in public financing toward cleaning up the site and rebuilding it into a residential and retail hub designed around access to public transportation.
While there are no firm plans for the site, a number of developers have been evaluating opportunities.
Also in play is RTD's former bus-barn site at West Alameda and South Santa Fe Drive, now under contract to Alameda Station LLC, which is among the locations Greyhound Lines is considering for its new location.
"We're evaluating a number of different options and trying to respond to the changing market," said Tom Wootten of Alameda Station. "It's nice to see a lot more activity than what we've seen in the last 18 months. We're also looking at retail and apartment uses. We want to make sure we have a development that is viable and sustainable."
People moving into Colorado faster than state creates jobs for them
By Greg Griffin
The Denver Post
Posted: 04/24/2011 01:00:00 AM MDTUpdated: 04/24/2011 09:33:26 AM MDT
At home, Cheryl Michaels looks for a job in the accounting field. "The market is still kind of tough," she says. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post )Migration to Colorado slowed dramatically or even reversed as jobs dried up in past downturns — helping the economy restore balance.
Not this time.
Colorado employers shed 130,000 jobs from 2008 to 2010, but the state added 145,000 new residents. This year, economists expect Colorado to gain 10,000 to 20,000 jobs, as the population grows by perhaps 85,000, including births. More than 30,000 of that growth could be transplants from other states.
"We're stumped. It's a question we've been struggling with," said Colorado State University regional economist Martin Shields. "Why are people still moving here?"
Theories range from a change in how some younger workers approach their careers — location
Christina and Brian Pannell make lunch last week in their motel room near Fort Collins. They moved here last month from Seattle. Christina has enrolled to begin studying equine sciences at Colorado State University in the fall, but the couple said they planned to move here whether or not she got accepted to the university because of the mountains and the weather. They're staying at the motel with two dogs and a guinea pig as they look for work and a place to rent. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post )first, job second — to outdated perceptions that Colorado's economy escaped the recession with light damage. Another potential factor: Some unemployed Coloradans are forgoing job opportunities elsewhere because they can't sell their homes.
The bottom line for many recent transplants is that unemployment is high everywhere and much worse in some places than here, so why not move to Colorado? The state's mountains, sunny weather and recreational amenities ranked highly with a handful of recent arrivals who moved here without jobs, and who spoke with The Denver Post.
Allure of the location
"I figure that it's not going to matter where I'm at if the jobs aren't building back up," said Cheryl Michaels, who moved to Denver from Fresno, Calif., in August 2008 and hasn't been able to find steady work as an accountant. "I might as well be here since I like it here."
Ian Armstrong, 28, moved to Colorado from his native Houston in November, drawn by the skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking, and by friends from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He recently began a part-time job as a construction engineer, earning half the hourly pay he made doing a similar job in Houston before
Migration to Colorado remains strong even though there are few jobs. Ian Armstrong, 28, moved here from Houston in November after losing his job and found part-time work.April 21, 2011. (Hyoung Chang/ The Denver Post)he was laid off.
"I had a sense that I'd be able to find something here. I didn't look at the unemployment rates or anything like that," Armstrong said. "It's definitely been tougher than I thought."
Steady migration to Colorado is contributing to stubbornly high unemployment — a rate of 9.2 percent in March, or 246,000 people jobless and looking for work. Economists don't expect those numbers to budge much this year, and they could continue to rise. Migration also poses troubling questions, such as whether higher unemployment is something Coloradans will have to get used to and whether anything can be done to rev the economy's growth.
"If the labor force continues to grow faster than the economy creates jobs, then we're going to see prolonged unemployment," Shields said. "Migration is closely tied to jobs, and eventually that would work itself out, but maybe at a higher rate of unemployment when things stabilize."
Net migration — the sum of those moving in and out of Colorado — has been positive since 1991 and appears to have slowed only slightly during the most recent downturn. A Denver Post analysis of population data from the state demographer's office found that net migration to the state fell an estimated 21 percent from 2008 to 2010 but remained above 30,000 last year.
Behind the net numbers, some 240,000 to 300,000 people move each year into Colorado from other states and from Colorado to other states, according to the state demographer's office. About 13,000 to 15,000 move here annually from other countries, though it's not known how many return.
Little demographic information is available about people who moved into and out of Colorado during the past decade. Nearly 40 percent came from or went to other Western states, and about a third came from or went to Southern states, including Texas, the Internal Revenue Service reported.
Depth of disparity debated
The mismatch between population growth and job creation in Colorado may look bigger than it really is.
First, the state's retired population is on the rise, state demographer Elizabeth Garner said. Baby boomers are relatively numerous in Colorado, and the jobs they're beginning to relinquish don't show up in the new-job statistics, Garner said.
Second, new jobs are reported by government and private-sector employers, and those numbers don't include self-employed workers, said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
Over the past decade, which included two recessions, employers created few if any net jobs in Colorado even as the population grew by about 700,000, Clark said. But there was significant job growth among the self-employed, including consultants, small-business owners and many professionals, he said.
Economist Patricia Silverstein of Jefferson County-based Development Research Partners estimates that the ranks of self-employed in Colorado swelled by as much as 196,000 during the decade.
"A lot of these folks that came to or stayed in Colorado are trying to make it self-employed," Silverstein said. "These innovators, these entrepreneurs are the ones who can get the economy running again. Think if a fraction of these folks can take their business to the next level and hire one worker. We'd be able to overcome those 130,000 jobs lost in the last two years."
Clark expects the migration-jobs issue to start working itself out next year as the economy gathers steam.
Others see long-term problems in the difficulty that the state's employers are having in creating enough jobs.
"The big dogs in the state have moved their headquarters or have been acquired by other people," said University of Colorado economist Richard Wobbekind, referring to Qwest, Frontier Airlines and First Data Corp. "I think it's important to have some big businesses. We're a great state for entrepreneurship, but certainly having some big companies with large employment bases doesn't hurt."
The Denver Post
Posted: 04/24/2011 01:00:00 AM MDTUpdated: 04/24/2011 09:33:26 AM MDT
At home, Cheryl Michaels looks for a job in the accounting field. "The market is still kind of tough," she says. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post )Migration to Colorado slowed dramatically or even reversed as jobs dried up in past downturns — helping the economy restore balance.
Not this time.
Colorado employers shed 130,000 jobs from 2008 to 2010, but the state added 145,000 new residents. This year, economists expect Colorado to gain 10,000 to 20,000 jobs, as the population grows by perhaps 85,000, including births. More than 30,000 of that growth could be transplants from other states.
"We're stumped. It's a question we've been struggling with," said Colorado State University regional economist Martin Shields. "Why are people still moving here?"
Theories range from a change in how some younger workers approach their careers — location
Christina and Brian Pannell make lunch last week in their motel room near Fort Collins. They moved here last month from Seattle. Christina has enrolled to begin studying equine sciences at Colorado State University in the fall, but the couple said they planned to move here whether or not she got accepted to the university because of the mountains and the weather. They're staying at the motel with two dogs and a guinea pig as they look for work and a place to rent. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post )first, job second — to outdated perceptions that Colorado's economy escaped the recession with light damage. Another potential factor: Some unemployed Coloradans are forgoing job opportunities elsewhere because they can't sell their homes.
The bottom line for many recent transplants is that unemployment is high everywhere and much worse in some places than here, so why not move to Colorado? The state's mountains, sunny weather and recreational amenities ranked highly with a handful of recent arrivals who moved here without jobs, and who spoke with The Denver Post.
Allure of the location
"I figure that it's not going to matter where I'm at if the jobs aren't building back up," said Cheryl Michaels, who moved to Denver from Fresno, Calif., in August 2008 and hasn't been able to find steady work as an accountant. "I might as well be here since I like it here."
Ian Armstrong, 28, moved to Colorado from his native Houston in November, drawn by the skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking, and by friends from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He recently began a part-time job as a construction engineer, earning half the hourly pay he made doing a similar job in Houston before
Migration to Colorado remains strong even though there are few jobs. Ian Armstrong, 28, moved here from Houston in November after losing his job and found part-time work.April 21, 2011. (Hyoung Chang/ The Denver Post)he was laid off.
"I had a sense that I'd be able to find something here. I didn't look at the unemployment rates or anything like that," Armstrong said. "It's definitely been tougher than I thought."
Steady migration to Colorado is contributing to stubbornly high unemployment — a rate of 9.2 percent in March, or 246,000 people jobless and looking for work. Economists don't expect those numbers to budge much this year, and they could continue to rise. Migration also poses troubling questions, such as whether higher unemployment is something Coloradans will have to get used to and whether anything can be done to rev the economy's growth.
"If the labor force continues to grow faster than the economy creates jobs, then we're going to see prolonged unemployment," Shields said. "Migration is closely tied to jobs, and eventually that would work itself out, but maybe at a higher rate of unemployment when things stabilize."
Net migration — the sum of those moving in and out of Colorado — has been positive since 1991 and appears to have slowed only slightly during the most recent downturn. A Denver Post analysis of population data from the state demographer's office found that net migration to the state fell an estimated 21 percent from 2008 to 2010 but remained above 30,000 last year.
Behind the net numbers, some 240,000 to 300,000 people move each year into Colorado from other states and from Colorado to other states, according to the state demographer's office. About 13,000 to 15,000 move here annually from other countries, though it's not known how many return.
Little demographic information is available about people who moved into and out of Colorado during the past decade. Nearly 40 percent came from or went to other Western states, and about a third came from or went to Southern states, including Texas, the Internal Revenue Service reported.
Depth of disparity debated
The mismatch between population growth and job creation in Colorado may look bigger than it really is.
First, the state's retired population is on the rise, state demographer Elizabeth Garner said. Baby boomers are relatively numerous in Colorado, and the jobs they're beginning to relinquish don't show up in the new-job statistics, Garner said.
Second, new jobs are reported by government and private-sector employers, and those numbers don't include self-employed workers, said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
Over the past decade, which included two recessions, employers created few if any net jobs in Colorado even as the population grew by about 700,000, Clark said. But there was significant job growth among the self-employed, including consultants, small-business owners and many professionals, he said.
Economist Patricia Silverstein of Jefferson County-based Development Research Partners estimates that the ranks of self-employed in Colorado swelled by as much as 196,000 during the decade.
"A lot of these folks that came to or stayed in Colorado are trying to make it self-employed," Silverstein said. "These innovators, these entrepreneurs are the ones who can get the economy running again. Think if a fraction of these folks can take their business to the next level and hire one worker. We'd be able to overcome those 130,000 jobs lost in the last two years."
Clark expects the migration-jobs issue to start working itself out next year as the economy gathers steam.
Others see long-term problems in the difficulty that the state's employers are having in creating enough jobs.
"The big dogs in the state have moved their headquarters or have been acquired by other people," said University of Colorado economist Richard Wobbekind, referring to Qwest, Frontier Airlines and First Data Corp. "I think it's important to have some big businesses. We're a great state for entrepreneurship, but certainly having some big companies with large employment bases doesn't hurt."
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Existing-Home Sales Rise in March 2011
RISMEDIA, April 21, 2011—Sales of existing-home sales rose in March 2011, continuing an uneven recovery that began after sales bottomed last July, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 3.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.10 million in March from an upwardly revised 4.92 million in February, but are 6.3% below the 5.44 million pace in March 2010. Sales were at elevated levels from March through June of 2010 in response to the home buyer tax credit.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, expects the improving sales pattern to continue. “Existing-home sales have risen in six of the past eight months, so we’re clearly on a recovery path,” he said. “With rising jobs and excellent affordability conditions, we project moderate improvements into 2012, but not every month will show a gain—primarily because some buyers are finding it too difficult to obtain a mortgage. For those fortunate enough to qualify for financing, monthly mortgage payments as a percent of income have been at record lows.”
NAR’s housing affordability index shows the typical monthly mortgage principal and interest payment for the purchase of a median-priced existing home is only 13% of gross household income, the lowest since records began in 1970.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.84% in March, down from 4.95% in February; the rate was 4.97% in March 2010.
Data from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae show requirements to obtain conventional mortgages have been tightened, with the average credit score rising to about 760 in the current market from nearly 720 in 2007; for FHA loans the average credit score is around 700, up from just over 630 in 2007.
“Although home sales are coming back without a federal stimulus, sales would be notably stronger if mortgage lending would return to the normal, safe standards that were in place a decade ago—before the loose lending practices that created the unprecedented boom and bust cycle,” Yun explained.
“Given that FHA and VA government-backed loan programs turned a modest profit over to the U.S. Treasury last year, and have never required a taxpayer bailout, we believe low-downpayment loans should continue to be available for those consumers who have demonstrated financial responsibility and are willing to stay well within their budget. Raising the downpayment requirement would unnecessarily deny credit to many worthy middle-class families and veterans,” Yun said.
A parallel NAR practitioner survey shows first-time buyers purchased 33% of homes in March, compared with 34% of homes in February; they were 44% in March 2010.
All-cash sales were at a record market share of 35% in March, up from 33% in February; they were 27% in March 2010. Investors accounted for 22% of sales activity in March, up from 19% in February; they were 19% in March 2010. The balance of sales were to repeat buyers.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $159,600 in March, down 5.9% from March 2010. Distressed homes—typically sold at discounts in the vicinity of 20%—accounted for a 40% marketshare in March, up from 39% in February and 35% in March 2010.
NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., said some renters are looking to homeownership as a hedge against inflation. “The typical buyer today plans to stay in a home for 10 years, while rents are projected to rise at faster rates over the next few years,” he said. “As buyers gain more financial security, the advantages of homeownership become more obvious. Rents will continue to trend up, especially in comparison with a fixed-rate loan which provides financial stability and gradual accumulation of equity over time.”
Total housing inventory at the end of March rose 1.5% to 3.55 million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.4-month supply at the current sales pace, compared with a 8.5-month supply in February.
Single-family home sales rose 4.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.45 million in March from 4.28 million in February, but are 6.5% below the 4.76 million level in March 2010. The median existing single-family home price was $160,500 in March, down 5.3% from a year ago.
Existing condominium and co-op sales increased 1.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 650,000 in March from 640,000 in February, but are 4.1% below the 678,000-unit pace one year ago. The median existing condo price was $153,100 in March, which is 10.1% below March 2010.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast rose 3.9% to an annual level of 800,000 in March, but are 12.1% below March 2010. The median price in the Northeast was $232,900, down 3.0% from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the Midwest increased 1.0% in March to a pace of 1.06 million, but are 13.1% lower than a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $126,100, which is 7.1% below March 2010.
In the South, existing-home sales rose 8.2% to an annual level of 1.99 million in March, but are 1.0% below March 2010. The median price in the South was $138,200, down 6.6% from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the West slipped 0.8% to an annual pace of 1.25 million in March and are 3.1% below a year ago. The median price in the West was $192,100, which is 11.2% lower than March 2010.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, expects the improving sales pattern to continue. “Existing-home sales have risen in six of the past eight months, so we’re clearly on a recovery path,” he said. “With rising jobs and excellent affordability conditions, we project moderate improvements into 2012, but not every month will show a gain—primarily because some buyers are finding it too difficult to obtain a mortgage. For those fortunate enough to qualify for financing, monthly mortgage payments as a percent of income have been at record lows.”
NAR’s housing affordability index shows the typical monthly mortgage principal and interest payment for the purchase of a median-priced existing home is only 13% of gross household income, the lowest since records began in 1970.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.84% in March, down from 4.95% in February; the rate was 4.97% in March 2010.
Data from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae show requirements to obtain conventional mortgages have been tightened, with the average credit score rising to about 760 in the current market from nearly 720 in 2007; for FHA loans the average credit score is around 700, up from just over 630 in 2007.
“Although home sales are coming back without a federal stimulus, sales would be notably stronger if mortgage lending would return to the normal, safe standards that were in place a decade ago—before the loose lending practices that created the unprecedented boom and bust cycle,” Yun explained.
“Given that FHA and VA government-backed loan programs turned a modest profit over to the U.S. Treasury last year, and have never required a taxpayer bailout, we believe low-downpayment loans should continue to be available for those consumers who have demonstrated financial responsibility and are willing to stay well within their budget. Raising the downpayment requirement would unnecessarily deny credit to many worthy middle-class families and veterans,” Yun said.
A parallel NAR practitioner survey shows first-time buyers purchased 33% of homes in March, compared with 34% of homes in February; they were 44% in March 2010.
All-cash sales were at a record market share of 35% in March, up from 33% in February; they were 27% in March 2010. Investors accounted for 22% of sales activity in March, up from 19% in February; they were 19% in March 2010. The balance of sales were to repeat buyers.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $159,600 in March, down 5.9% from March 2010. Distressed homes—typically sold at discounts in the vicinity of 20%—accounted for a 40% marketshare in March, up from 39% in February and 35% in March 2010.
NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., said some renters are looking to homeownership as a hedge against inflation. “The typical buyer today plans to stay in a home for 10 years, while rents are projected to rise at faster rates over the next few years,” he said. “As buyers gain more financial security, the advantages of homeownership become more obvious. Rents will continue to trend up, especially in comparison with a fixed-rate loan which provides financial stability and gradual accumulation of equity over time.”
Total housing inventory at the end of March rose 1.5% to 3.55 million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.4-month supply at the current sales pace, compared with a 8.5-month supply in February.
Single-family home sales rose 4.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.45 million in March from 4.28 million in February, but are 6.5% below the 4.76 million level in March 2010. The median existing single-family home price was $160,500 in March, down 5.3% from a year ago.
Existing condominium and co-op sales increased 1.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 650,000 in March from 640,000 in February, but are 4.1% below the 678,000-unit pace one year ago. The median existing condo price was $153,100 in March, which is 10.1% below March 2010.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast rose 3.9% to an annual level of 800,000 in March, but are 12.1% below March 2010. The median price in the Northeast was $232,900, down 3.0% from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the Midwest increased 1.0% in March to a pace of 1.06 million, but are 13.1% lower than a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $126,100, which is 7.1% below March 2010.
In the South, existing-home sales rose 8.2% to an annual level of 1.99 million in March, but are 1.0% below March 2010. The median price in the South was $138,200, down 6.6% from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the West slipped 0.8% to an annual pace of 1.25 million in March and are 3.1% below a year ago. The median price in the West was $192,100, which is 11.2% lower than March 2010.
Color Power Remind sellers and buyers that paint can powerfully alter the mood of a room.
April 2011
“In fact, paint color is so powerful that it can influence not just our state of mind but even our physiology,” says Debbie Zimmer, color expert at the Paint Quality Institute in Philadelphia. Learn more: www.paintquality.com.
Blue. Blue has been shown to slow pulse rate and lower body temperature, making it great for bedrooms. “The ancient Egyptians, Native Americans, and many other peoples used color to heal,” Zimmer says.
Green. Popular and versatile, green has a soothing effect. It also represents renewal, youth, and vigor. Says Zimmer: “Because it is calming, green paint is a good color choice for bedrooms.”
Red. It bespeaks energy and excitement, actually making the heart beat faster. Because red is associated with desire and passion, it’s a perfect color for dining rooms and adult bedrooms, says Zimmer.
Yellow. A great interior color, it imparts happiness and optimism. Studies have shown that the brain actually releases more serotonin when the eye takes in yellow—creating positive psychological vibes.
Orange. More attention-getting than yellow, orange has an energy and warmth. Muddy shades are useful in many rooms, but vivid tones may appear raw and flamboyant.
Purple. Zimmer suggests that people reserve this color for their daughter’s room. “Odds are, she’ll love it, and you can take comfort in purple’s proven ability to stimulate brain activity,” she says.
What about non-colors?
Black is a great accent color indoors or out, imparting elegance, formality, and sophistication. But don’t get carried away; too much black can be depressing. White conveys peace, simplicity, and spaciousness. It can provide a crisp finish to almost any paint job by adding sharp contrast to the wall color. It can also give the illusion that the space is bigger than its physical dimensions.
“In fact, paint color is so powerful that it can influence not just our state of mind but even our physiology,” says Debbie Zimmer, color expert at the Paint Quality Institute in Philadelphia. Learn more: www.paintquality.com.
Blue. Blue has been shown to slow pulse rate and lower body temperature, making it great for bedrooms. “The ancient Egyptians, Native Americans, and many other peoples used color to heal,” Zimmer says.
Green. Popular and versatile, green has a soothing effect. It also represents renewal, youth, and vigor. Says Zimmer: “Because it is calming, green paint is a good color choice for bedrooms.”
Red. It bespeaks energy and excitement, actually making the heart beat faster. Because red is associated with desire and passion, it’s a perfect color for dining rooms and adult bedrooms, says Zimmer.
Yellow. A great interior color, it imparts happiness and optimism. Studies have shown that the brain actually releases more serotonin when the eye takes in yellow—creating positive psychological vibes.
Orange. More attention-getting than yellow, orange has an energy and warmth. Muddy shades are useful in many rooms, but vivid tones may appear raw and flamboyant.
Purple. Zimmer suggests that people reserve this color for their daughter’s room. “Odds are, she’ll love it, and you can take comfort in purple’s proven ability to stimulate brain activity,” she says.
What about non-colors?
Black is a great accent color indoors or out, imparting elegance, formality, and sophistication. But don’t get carried away; too much black can be depressing. White conveys peace, simplicity, and spaciousness. It can provide a crisp finish to almost any paint job by adding sharp contrast to the wall color. It can also give the illusion that the space is bigger than its physical dimensions.
What's Your Favorite Staging Accessory?
Defining a space with your favorite staging accessory.
April 2011
Area rugs.
"Rugs can really help you define a large space. We also use them to stage bedrooms: Plop a few pillows and a breakfast serving tray on top of a rug instead of racking up the cost of a full-sized bed and accessories. I learned this neat little trick from another local agent a few years back and have been using it ever since!"
- Stephanie Crawford, Zeitlin & Co., Nashville
Sheer curtains.
"My favorite staging accessory is a tension rod with a white sheer curtain on the windows. It dresses up the window but still allows the light in. And no tools are needed to hang the rod!"
- Giovanna Graves, Central Mass Real Estate Inc., Leominster, Mass.
Side tables.
"I love to use trunks or small suitcases in place of a side table. It adds interest because it’s unexpected but appealing to all types of buyers. I’ve had buyers actually want to purchase them when buying the home."
- Mary Habres, Encore Home Staging and Redesign, Jacksonville, Fla.
Timers for lights.
"I work in a climate that tends toward gray days in the winter so having timers on lights really changes the first impression. During the holidays, I use battery-operated candles with timers. They come on at the same time every day, stay on for five hours, and then shut themselves off. It’s fun, festive, and safe."
- Dava Behrens, Coldwell Banker Valley Brokers, Corvallis, Ore.
Fabulous fabric.
"I buy fabric to coordinate with the style of the home I am staging. I cover a large framed canvas with fabric for art and headboards. I also use fabric as a colorful throw at the end of a bed or to recover a chair seat. A little blanket edging and sewing glue finish the edges. I can make everything look coordinated with a custom appearance."
- Kristin Bramer, IdEvolution, Lafayette, Colo.
Fresh flowers, mirrors, and candy!
"I like to use beautifully simple fresh flowers—sometimes even just one bud in a small vase in the bathroom. Near the entrance to the home, I like to use a mirror that is sized to scale with the space and goes with the interior décor. Finally, I use clear canisters in the kitchen filled with candy, such as Swedish Fish, M&Ms, or peppermints. It adds some color and a splash of fun."
- Jessica Dolan, Room to Breathe Home Organizing & Staging, State College, Pa.
April 2011
Area rugs.
"Rugs can really help you define a large space. We also use them to stage bedrooms: Plop a few pillows and a breakfast serving tray on top of a rug instead of racking up the cost of a full-sized bed and accessories. I learned this neat little trick from another local agent a few years back and have been using it ever since!"
- Stephanie Crawford, Zeitlin & Co., Nashville
Sheer curtains.
"My favorite staging accessory is a tension rod with a white sheer curtain on the windows. It dresses up the window but still allows the light in. And no tools are needed to hang the rod!"
- Giovanna Graves, Central Mass Real Estate Inc., Leominster, Mass.
Side tables.
"I love to use trunks or small suitcases in place of a side table. It adds interest because it’s unexpected but appealing to all types of buyers. I’ve had buyers actually want to purchase them when buying the home."
- Mary Habres, Encore Home Staging and Redesign, Jacksonville, Fla.
Timers for lights.
"I work in a climate that tends toward gray days in the winter so having timers on lights really changes the first impression. During the holidays, I use battery-operated candles with timers. They come on at the same time every day, stay on for five hours, and then shut themselves off. It’s fun, festive, and safe."
- Dava Behrens, Coldwell Banker Valley Brokers, Corvallis, Ore.
Fabulous fabric.
"I buy fabric to coordinate with the style of the home I am staging. I cover a large framed canvas with fabric for art and headboards. I also use fabric as a colorful throw at the end of a bed or to recover a chair seat. A little blanket edging and sewing glue finish the edges. I can make everything look coordinated with a custom appearance."
- Kristin Bramer, IdEvolution, Lafayette, Colo.
Fresh flowers, mirrors, and candy!
"I like to use beautifully simple fresh flowers—sometimes even just one bud in a small vase in the bathroom. Near the entrance to the home, I like to use a mirror that is sized to scale with the space and goes with the interior décor. Finally, I use clear canisters in the kitchen filled with candy, such as Swedish Fish, M&Ms, or peppermints. It adds some color and a splash of fun."
- Jessica Dolan, Room to Breathe Home Organizing & Staging, State College, Pa.
6 Worth the Price Fixups
Simple and affordable do-it-yourself projects can greatly increase a home's resale value, according to HomeGain's annual home improvement and staging survey.
April 2011
The marketing company surveyed nearly 600 real estate professionals to discover which DIY home improvement projects give sellers the biggest return for their buck. Here are six projects under $1,000 (amounts are estimated) that made the list.
1. Cleaning and decluttering. Remove any personal items, unclutter countertops, organize closets and shelves, and make the home sparkling clean.
$290 Cost
$1,990 Return
2. Brightening. Clean all windows inside and out, replace old curtains, update lighting fixtures, and remove anything that blocks light from the windows.
$375 Cost
$1,550 Return
3. Smart staging. Rearrange furniture, bring in new accessories and furnishings to enhance rooms, incorporate artwork, and play soft music in the background.
$550 Cost
$2,194 Return
4. Landscaping enhancements. Punch up the home’s curb appeal in the front and back yards by adding bark mulch, bushes, and flowers and ensuring current plants and grass are well-cared for and manicured.
$540 Cost
$1,932 return
5. Repairing electrical or plumbing. Fix leaks under the sinks, remove any mildew stains, and ensure all plumbing is in good working condition. Update the home’s electrical with new wiring for modern appliances, fix any lights or outlets that don’t work, and replace old plug points with new safety fixtures.
$535 Cost
$1,505 Return
6. Replacing or shampooing dirty carpets. Steam-clean carpets, replace any worn carpets, and repair any floor creaks.
$647 Cost
$1,739 Return
Excerpted from HomeGain’s 2011 Home Sale Maximizer Survey, www.homesalemaximizer.com.
April 2011
The marketing company surveyed nearly 600 real estate professionals to discover which DIY home improvement projects give sellers the biggest return for their buck. Here are six projects under $1,000 (amounts are estimated) that made the list.
1. Cleaning and decluttering. Remove any personal items, unclutter countertops, organize closets and shelves, and make the home sparkling clean.
$290 Cost
$1,990 Return
2. Brightening. Clean all windows inside and out, replace old curtains, update lighting fixtures, and remove anything that blocks light from the windows.
$375 Cost
$1,550 Return
3. Smart staging. Rearrange furniture, bring in new accessories and furnishings to enhance rooms, incorporate artwork, and play soft music in the background.
$550 Cost
$2,194 Return
4. Landscaping enhancements. Punch up the home’s curb appeal in the front and back yards by adding bark mulch, bushes, and flowers and ensuring current plants and grass are well-cared for and manicured.
$540 Cost
$1,932 return
5. Repairing electrical or plumbing. Fix leaks under the sinks, remove any mildew stains, and ensure all plumbing is in good working condition. Update the home’s electrical with new wiring for modern appliances, fix any lights or outlets that don’t work, and replace old plug points with new safety fixtures.
$535 Cost
$1,505 Return
6. Replacing or shampooing dirty carpets. Steam-clean carpets, replace any worn carpets, and repair any floor creaks.
$647 Cost
$1,739 Return
Excerpted from HomeGain’s 2011 Home Sale Maximizer Survey, www.homesalemaximizer.com.
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