Home Sales Contracts Rise 4.1% in March - CNBC

More buyers signed contracts to buy existing homes in March than the previous month, according to a monthly survey just released by the National Association of Realtors.

The Pending Home Sales Index rose 4.1 percent from February and is now 12.8 percent higher than March of 2011.

“The housing market has clearly turned the corner,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a release. “Rising sales are bringing down inventory and creating much more balanced conditions around the country, which means home prices will be rising in more areas as the year progresses.

Contract activity was strongest out West, with the index jumping nearly nine percent.

Both the Northeast and Midwest saw declining activity.

The bulk of distressed properties are in the West, with California, Arizona and Nevada still leading the nation in foreclosure activity.

A recent spike in short sales, where the bank allows the home to be sold for less than the value of the mortgage, could be lifting the numbers in those states. Distressed sales accounted for 29 percent of all sales in March, according to the Realtors and a much higher share of sales out West.

Final sales of existing homes (closings) fell unexpectedly in March, leading many to blame the unusually warm winter for pulling demand forward. First quarter home sales saw their highest quarterly volume in five years. This bump up in new contracts, though, may be a sign that spring isn’t a complete wash. Contract cancellations, however, have been running unusually high, upwards of 30 percent, due to low appraisals and a still-tight credit market, but Realtors claim those buyers have been staying in the market, offering other contracts.

by Diana Olick CNBC Apr 26, 2012


Home Sales Contracts Rise 4.1% in March - CNBC

California Bay Area home sales hit 5-year high | HousingWire

March home sales in California’s Bay Area reached their highest level for the month in five years, the result of lower prices, low interest rates and an improving economy.

About 7,700 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area in March, up 34.9% from 5,702 in February, and up 9.1% from 7,051 a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The February to March sales jump is normal for the season, but the latter’s sales count was the highest for the month since 8,317 homes were sold in 2007. Since 1988, March sales have ranged from 4,898 in 2008 to 12,645 in 2004, with an average of 8,812.

“This is the time of year when buying patterns usually start to normalize,” said DataQuick President John Walsh. “And while the changes we’re seeing are incremental, they’re incremental in a positive direction. That said, there’s a long way to go.”

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area in March totaled $358,000, a 10.2% increase from $325,000 in February, but down 0.6% from $360,000 in March 2011.

To put these figures in perspective, the low point of the current real estate cycle fell to $290,000 in March 2009, while the peak rose to $665,000 in June/July 2007.

Statewide median home prices posted their first year-over-year increase in 16 months. The California Association of Realtors members said tight inventory (4.1 months) throughout the state and particularly robust sales in the San Francisco Bay area helped fuel the price increase.

“Two of the big issues to watch closely are how fast distressed properties are being put on the market, and the availability of, or lack of availability of, mortgage financing,” DataQuick's Walsh said.

Distressed property sales, according to the firm, made up 44.3% of the resale market, down from 48.8% in February and 48.2% a year earlier.

Foreclosure resales accounted for 24.9% of resales in March, falling from 26.4% in February, and down from 31.5% in the year-ago period. Foreclosure resales averaged about 10% over the past 17 years.

Short sales made up 19.4% of Bay Area resales in the month, down from 22.4% in the previous month and up from 16.7% a year earlier.

by Justin T Hilley Housingwire Apr 20, 2012


California Bay Area home sales hit 5-year high | HousingWire

Mansion in PV sells for $10.5 mil

John McLean/The Arizona Republic M56 Place LLC, a New Mexico limited liability company, paid $10.5 million in cash for this 17,015 square-foot home at Mummy Mountain Estates in Paradise Valley.




Metro Phoenix's high-end housing market received a boost earlier this week when a 35,000-square-foot mansion in Paradise Valley sold for $10.5 million in cash. It's the region's highest price home resale since the boom, though there have been some pricier homes built.

The house, situated on 5 acres, was once owned by Phillips Smith, former chairman of Taser International. He gave the home back to lender M&I Bank in 2011.

The buyer, M56 Place LLC, has carefully covered the names of its principals, the people who will own the home.

"The house is in great shape and was a great deal for the buyer," said Joan Levinson of Realty One Group. She negotiated the sale for the lender and buyer and declined to disclose names of the people behind M56 Place.

The house was originally listed for $20 million, and then lowered to $15.9 million. The mansion comes with a 21-car garage, two swimming pools, a guesthouse, seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, $1.2 million in security and sound equipment, a 13-seat movie theater and two large libraries

Smith lived in the home and maintained it until the sale.

Price per square foot

For anyone still in doubt about home prices increasing in the metro Phoenix area: on March 28, the price-per-square-foot of a home sale in the region had climbed 8.68 percent from the end of February, according to the Cromford Report.

Mike Orr, publisher of the online real-estate report, said that beats the highest monthly price jump during the region's housing boom: 7.47 percent during January 2005.

The biggest 30-day price change during the past decade happened during September 2007, but that was a drop of 9 percent.

Valley Home Values

The Republic's annual analysis of metro Phoenix home prices and sales will be in Sunday's paper and online at homevalues.azcentral.com.

Some homeowners may look at the data and think prices look low for their neighborhood.

The report is based on annual data from 2011, and many areas didn't start to see increases in home values until late last year.

by Catherine Reagor - Mar. 30, 2012 04:50 PM The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com

Mansion in PV sells for $10.5 mil

Report: Upbeat findings for Arizona housing market

David Wallace/The Republic A sign last month advertises another Valley home sold, this one in Gilbert. A new ASU report suggests that home prices overall in the Phoenix area have been on the rise since September.



Metro Phoenix home prices are up. Fewer inexpensive homes are for sale, and the number of pending foreclosures is down.

The positive housing-market update comes from Arizona State University's newest real-estate report.

It's the first monthly housing analysis from Mike Orr, who was recently named director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice for ASU's W.P. Carey School of Business.

"Single-family home prices overall in the Phoenix area have been moving up since they reached a low point in September," Orr said in his debut monthly housing report.

"Also, looking forward, I expect a declining trend in foreclosures."

Orr also publishes a daily online analysis of Phoenix-area housing indicators called the "Cromford Report."

The median price of all home sales, including new homes, reached $120,500 in January of this year, Orr reports. That compares with $113,166 a year earlier.

The average price per square foot of Valley houses has climbed 3 percent since last year.

There were approximately 8,000 new and used homes sold in January, up from 7,500 in January 2011.

Orr said investors have snatched up the oversupply of homes for sale under $300,000.

"Many people think there's a glut of homes the banks are hiding somewhere, and that may be the case in other markets, but not here in the Phoenix area," he said.

"We've gone through so many foreclosures that the system has been working itself out for about five years."

In January, there were 2,450 single-family foreclosures in both Maricopa and Pinal counties, compared with 4,200 during January 2011, according to the ASU report.

The supply of homes listed for sale in metro Phoenix is down 42 percent from a year earlier.

by Catherine Reagor - Feb. 23, 2012 06:35 PM The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com





Report: Upbeat findings for Arizona housing market

Rising sales point to a stronger year for housing

WASHINGTON - The housing market is flashing signs of health ahead of the spring-buying season.

Sales of previously occupied homes are at their highest level since May 2010. More first-time buyers are making purchases. And the supply of homes fell last month to its lowest point in nearly seven years, which could push home prices higher.

Sales have now risen nearly 13 percent over the past six months. While they are still well below the 6 million that economists equate with a healthy market, the gains have coincided with other changes in the market that suggest more sales are coming.

"The trend is clearly upward," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that re-sales increased 4.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million.

Single-family home sales rose 3.8 percent. And the number of first-time buyers, who are critical to a housing recovery, increased slightly to make up 33 percent of all sales. That's still below 40 percent, which tends to signal a healthy market.

One concern is that the market is still saturated with homes at risk of foreclosure, which lower broader home prices. Those increased to make up 35 percent of sales.

But the supply of homes on the market has plunged to 2.3 million, the lowest since March 2005. At last month's sales pace, it would take more than six months to clear those homes, consistent with a healthy housing market. Fewer homes on the market could help boost prices over time.

Most economists said the January report was encouraging, especially when viewed with other recent positive housing data.

Mortgage rates have never been lower. Homebuilders are slightly more hopeful because more people are saying they might be open to buying this year -- and they responded in January to that interest by requesting more permits to construct single-family homes.

"The rise in existing-home sales in recent months adds to the indication from housing starts, building permits and homebuilder sentiment that the sector has improved modestly since the middle of 2011," said John Ryding, an economist at RDQ economics.

Much of the optimism has come because hiring has picked up. More jobs are critical to a housing rebound. In January, employers added 243,000 net jobs -- the most in nine months -- and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, the lowest level in nearly three years.

Analysts caution that the damage from the housing bust is deep and the industry is years away from fully recovering. Since the bubble burst, sales have slumped under the weight of foreclosures, tighter credit and falling prices.

Many deals are also collapsing before they close. One-third of Realtors say they've seen at least one contract scuttled over the past four months. That's up from 18 percent in September.

Realtors say deals are collapsing for several reasons: Banks have declined mortgage applications. Home inspectors have found problems. Appraisals have come in lower than the bid. Or a buyer suffered a financial setback before the closing.

Sales rose across the country in January. They rose on a seasonal basis by nearly 9 percent in the West, 3.5 percent in the South, 3.4 percent in the Northeast and 1 percent in the Midwest.

by Derek Kravitz - Feb. 22, 2012 06:15 PM Associated Press



Rising sales point to a stronger year for housing

Pending home sales fell 4.6% in Sept.

WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes fell for the third straight month in September after the spring-and-summer peak buying season failed to entice new buyers.

The National Association of Realtors says its index of sales agreements fell 4.6 percent last month to a reading of 84.5.

A reading of 100 is considered healthy. The last time the index reached that high was in April 2010, the final month that buyers could qualify for a federal tax credit that has since expired.

Contract signings are usually a reliable indicator of where the housing market is headed. There's typically a one- to two-month lag between a contract and a completed deal.

But the Realtors group said a growing number of buyers have canceled contracts.

by Derek Kravitz Associated Press Oct. 27, 2011 07:30 AM




Pending home sales fell 4.6% in Sept.