Housing market favoring buyers. Coachella Valley housing prices rose in May from year-ago levels, but also hewed to the price-appreciation slowdown that's characterized the local market in 2006. Resale homes are competing not only with each other, but increasingly with new-construction houses being offered up with significant pricing incentives, free upgrades and other lures. Many resale-home sellers are still thinking in terms of where prices were eight months to a year ago, and need to be convinced to lower their asking prices or help their buyers in ways like sharing closing costs. Click here to read more.
National Foreclosures Increase Less Than 2 Percent in May According to RealtyTrac(TM) U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. RealtyTrac(TM), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its May 2006 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, showing 92,746 properties nationwide entering some stage of foreclosure during the month, an increase of less than 2 percent from April 2006, but still a 28 percent increase from May 2005. Report results also indicate a national foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 1,247 U.S. households during the month. California reported 8,736 properties entering some stage of foreclosure in May, a 1 percent decrease from the previous month but more than twice the number reported in May 2005. Despite the increase, the state's foreclosure rate -- one new foreclosure filing for every 1,398 households -- stayed below the national average for the second month in a row. Click here to read more.
South Bay real estate sellers find fewer, pickier buyers. Local market is cooling with houses spending more time unsold, even as prices start to fall. Click here to read more.
Sales of existing homes falls. But median price of the homes sold rises to $230,000 in May, up 6 percent from the same month a year ago. Sales of existing homes fell for the third time in the past five months in May, with the weakness led by a big drop in demand in the Northeast. The National Association of Realtors reported today that sales of previously owned homes dropped by 1.2 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.67 million units. Click here to read more.
Slight real estate slump predicted. Anderson School forecast says dip in prices is not enough to cause an economic depression. As the price of real estate continues to increase, especially with the high cost of living in California, UCLA's Anderson School of Business economists and corporate contributors concluded in their June 21 quarterly forecast that there will be a slight slump in the real estate market. After years of anticipating that California home prices would soon begin to plummet, Anderson revised its original conjecture after it did not follow suit with the actual economic trend. But though real estate prices will begin to decrease, it will not be enough to create an economic recession. "There will be a reasonable dip, but no crash," said Chris Cagan, director of research and analytics at First American Real Estate Solutions. Several Anderson analysts also said a housing market dip could lead to job losses in some industries, especially construction. Analyzing the current and future condition of real estate value and its effects on employment, the 2006 forecast predicts that home prices will barely change in the short term, but by 2008, they could drop by 4.1 percent. Real estate is the best indicator of a recession, and if the real estate market is headed downwards, it could cause problems for the overall progress of the economy, Leamer said. Click here to read more.
Buyers in more markets find housing out of reach. Even though the real estate boom peaked last year, there's no end in sight. Nationally, home prices are still climbing and are expected to rise about 5% this year. Coupled with higher interest rates, gas prices and property taxes, those prices are creating an affordability crisis that is rippling through communities across the country. The affordability crisis appears likely to get worse. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates again this week. One in five homeowners with a mortgage has an adjustable-rate loan, and most of those loans will reset to much higher interest rates within the next two years. Still, many Americans nationwide are growing anxious about the cost of buying a home, or even keeping the one they have. One out of three Americans fear that rising monthly payments — especially property taxes and energy costs — will force them to sell their home and buy a less expensive one, according to a survey to be released today by the National Association of Realtors. By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans say that high monthly payments, rather than high down payments, are the chief obstacle to buying a home, the survey found. Of the renters surveyed, about half worry that the cost of housing is so daunting that they'll never be able to buy a home. And nearly 60% of those surveyed are concerned that the cost of a home is becoming so unaffordable that it's hurting their local economy. Click here to read more.
~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
1655 E. Sixth St.
Beaumont, CA 92223
Work: 951-845-5520 Ext. 105
Fax: 951-845-4916
Cell: 909-446-2666
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tina.jan@coldwellbanker.com
www.tinajan.com
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