Real Estate Headlines, taken it with a grain of salt...

A recent Pending Home Sales Report stated that signed contracts on existing homes slipped in January for the second month in a row. Come to think of it, that may not be a huge surprise since not many people shop for homes during the holidays.

We should be somewhat cautious about buying into the doom & gloom and not erect barriers to our progress just because of a minor setback, like the one we had with last week's Pending Home Sales. Although The National Association of Realtors (NAR) records show fewer signed contracts on existing homes, the drop wasn't as severe as anticipated. NAR's chief economist stated: "We should not expect the recovery to be in a straight upward path--it will zigzag at times."

The most recent general forecast from NAR showed an interesting projection of that recovery. Property re-sales should grow 8.1% this year and an additional 5.2% in
2012. Median prices are expected to be static during 2011 and then increase over 3% next year. Sales of new homes are projected to go up about 5% this year, to over 55% for 2012. Median price will move up a bit in 2011, then up 3.5% next year.

As always bear in mind that this is a National survey and real estate and economies vary geographically. More soon on Ventura County real estate and California…

What’s Really Happening in the Housing Market?

During the Great Depression the primary means of reporting news was simply printed news and radio. Now we’re bombarded non stop (if we allow it) with a stream of news and communication from the time we wake to the time we hit the pillow.

TV, radio, laptops, Ipads, Blackberries, Facebook, Twitter and on and on. Instant and constant input is de rigueur. Times were pretty rugged back then. One has to ponder if communications were then what they are now if the entirety of our nation would have vaporized under the pressure.

Let’s face it, bad news sells. Times are tough and “they” love to talk about it. But you can look at the glass half empty or half full. We anticipated some consequences when the tax credit expired.

Realtors’ association economist Lawrence Yun has spoken of the current downturn, but presents another viewpoint as well. “Since May, after the April 30th deadline, contract signings have been notably lower,” he said, “and a pause period for home sales is likely to last through September.”

Still, Yun said, it’s anticipated that annual sales will approach five million in 2010 due to robust sales in the first part of the year. “To place that in perspective, annual sales averaged 4.9 million in the past 20 years, and 4.4 million over the past 30 years.”

As a result of the tax credit, there has been stabilization in home values for 18 months, Yun said.

Additionally, recently released data from the S & P/ Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed a 3.6% increase in national home prices in the last year.
"While the numbers are upbeat, other more recent data on home sales and mortgages point to fewer gains ahead," states David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Even with concerns about near term developments, we recognize that the housing market is in better shape than this time last year."

Locally, in Ventura County, we’ve experienced some slowing since the end of the tax credit. However, there was actually an increase in closed sales sales with 4871 in the last six months over 4548 in the previous six months.

Historically low interest rates and stabilized home values make a compelling case for purchasing property at this time. The window of opportunity is there. Let me know if I can help open it!