By Dennis Norman, on June 1st, 2011
A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows home prices in the St. Louis declined in April 2011 by 9.70 percent from the year before which is a larger decline than the month before when St Louis home prices were down 9.44 percent from the year before. If we take “distressed sales” (foreclosures, REO’s and short-sales) out then home prices declined by 3.53 percent in April from the year before.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 26th, 2011
RealtyTrac released their foreclosure report this morning for the first quarter of 2011 showing that foreclosure homes (sales of bank-owned homes and those in some stage of foreclosure) accounted for 28 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the quarter. This is up slightly from 27 percent the prior quarter and the highest percentage since the first quarter of 2010, when 29 percent of all sales were foreclosure sales.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 24th, 2011
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for April 2011 showing an increase of 7.3 percent from the month before, and a decrease of 23.1 percent from a year ago.
The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for April was 323,000 homes. The supply of new homes on the market decreased from an adjusted 7.2 month supply the month before to a 6.5 month supply in April. The median new home price increased for the month to $217,900, a 1.6 percent increase from a revised median price of $214,500 the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 19th, 2011
St. Louis existing-home sales in April were down 30.1 percent from a year ago, after the prior month’s sales were down 20.3 percent from the year prior. This disturbing trend points to a decrease in the number of home sales in St. Louis in 2011 from 2010, even though industry experts are predicting an increase in U.S. existing home sales this year over last.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 18th, 2011
Negative equity is the dominant factor driving the real estate market according to CoreLogic in it’s “U.S. Housing and Market Trends” report that was released today. According to the report, as of the 4th quarter of 2010, over 11 million (23 percent) of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position, meaning they owe more on their mortgages than the current value of their home.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 17th, 2011
The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for April 2011 showing a 1.8 percent decrease in single-family home building permits from the month before, and a 5.1 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 16th, 2011
HomeSteps, the home-sale division of Freddie Mac, announced today it is launching a nationwide sales promotion on it’s inventory of foreclosed homes starting today. The promotion, titled “The HomeSteps Summer Sales Promotion”, is offering up to pay buyer’s closing costs, up to 3.5 percent of the sales price and a bonus to the selling agent for offers on Freddie Mac homes originated between today and July 31st and that close by September 30, 2011.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 13th, 2011
Speaking yesterday at a forum at a meeting of the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), several industry “experts” had reasonably optimistic opinions of the housing market and expect home sales to continue on an uptrend through 2012.
Among the experts at the forum was, of course, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR, who said he felt existing home sales would improve gradually, but unevenly. “If we just hold at the first-quarter sales pace of 5.1 million (home sales), sales this year would rise 4 percent, but the remainder of the year looks better,” Yun said. “We expect 5.3 million Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 10th, 2011
A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows home prices in the St. Louis declined in March by 9.3 percent from the year before which is a larger decline than the month before when St Louis home prices were down 7.24 percent from the year before.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 4th, 2011
Well, the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors, in north St. Louis County, is back at it again. As some readers may recall, in February of last year I wrote about the appellant court declaring that an ordinance passed by the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors requiring property owners to apply for an inspection before advertising their home for sale violated their property rights and was unconstitutional. Then, the following month I wrote another article on the subject, this time about how, in spite of the decision of the appellant court, the city of Bellefontaine was still enforcing the ordinance.
So what are Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 3rd, 2011
A report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows that while mortgage delinquencies continue to decline, an enormous backlog of foreclosures still exists and is expected to continue for some time. As of the end of March, foreclosure inventory levels stand at 8 times historical “norms”.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 28th, 2011
Dennis Norman
The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for March shows an increase of 5.1 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 11.4 percent decrease from a year ago. This is the third-consecutive month over month increase for the pending home sales index.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 26th, 2011
Dennis Norman
Today the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for February was released showing home prices continue to fall and that the housing housing market continues to head toward a double dip in home prices. The report shows their 20-city composite home price index declined by 1.1 percent from the month before and declined by 3.3 percent from a year ago.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 25th, 2011
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for March 2011 showing an increase of 11.1 percent from the month before, and a decrease of 21.9 percent from a year ago.
The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for March was 300,000 homes. The supply of new homes on the market decreased from an adjusted 8.2 month supply the month before to a 7.3 month supply in March. The median new home price increased for the month to $213,800, a 2.9 percent increase from a revised median price of $207,700 the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 21st, 2011
Fannie Mae released their April 2011 Economic Outlook which, as far as the housing market goes, doesn’t paint a real rosy picture. The Fannie Mae report cites weak home sales in the first part of 2011, distressed sales making up more than a third of those sales and the winding down of various programs that were supporting the housing market as the cause of continued home price decline.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 21st, 2011
RPX Composite Home Price Fell to Lowest Level since March 2003 – St. Louis ranks 6th of 25 metros on one year rate of change of home prices.
Radar Logic published it’s Housing Market Report for February showing that it’s “RPX Composite Price”, for the 25 metro areas covered by the index, including St. Louis, fell 0.7 percent from January and 4.3 percent from the year before. St. Louis home prices fell 2.4 percent from January and 4.4 percent from a year ago.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 20th, 2011
Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in March were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 5.1 million units which is an increase of 3.7 percent from the month before and is a decrease of 6.3 percent from a year ago.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 19th, 2011
The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for March 2011 showing a 5.7 percent increase in single-family home building permits from the month before, and a 7.7 percent increase in new home starts compared to the month before. This comes on the heels of new home construction sinking to a 25 year low last month.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 15th, 2011
Private Transfer fees have been something of a hot topic in the real estate community of late and something that has many professionals in the industry in opposite corners. This week, former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros, weighed in with his support for private transfer fees in a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 14th, 2011
The 800 pound gorilla in the room has finally lost some weight!
RealtyTrac released their foreclosure report for the first quarter of 2011 which shows foreclosure filings were reported on 681,153 U.S. properties during the quarter, a 15 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 27 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. St. Louis did not see as big of a decrease but still the numbers are looking better! St. Louis had 5,023 properties with foreclosure filings during the first quarter 2011 which works out to one in every 248 St. Louis properties and represents a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 7th, 2011
According to a report released this morning by CoreLogic, St. Louis home prices (including distressed sales) declined by 8.29 percent in February 2011 from the year before. The prior month showed home prices had declined 7.24 percent from the year before, so the bad news is this shows home prices are continuing to trend downward. The good news is, if you remove the distressed sales from the mix then St. Louis home prices in February only declined by 1.07 percent from the year before and in the month before declined by 2.38 percent from the year before showing that home Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 31st, 2011
More than half a million vacation homes were purchased last year, fueled by low real estate prices, attractive mortgage rates and the potential for price appreciation according to research done by the National Association of REALTORS for HomeAway.
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By Dennis Norman, on March 30th, 2011
A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of January 2011 declined to 1.8 million units, down slightly from 2.0 million units a year ago. This current shadow inventory represents a 9 month supply, same as the suply a year ago.
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By Robert Fishel, on March 30th, 2011
In this tighter credit environment, FHA remains to be a great alternative for buyers with limited resources for a down payment and closing costs or past credit problems. Underwriting guidelines are more lenient than conventional guidelines.
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By Dennis Norman, on March 29th, 2011
A report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows that while mortgage delinquencies continue to decline, an enormous backlog of foreclosures still exists and is expected to continue for some time. As of the end of February, foreclosure inventory levels stand at more than 30 times the monthly foreclosure sales volume.
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By Dennis Norman, on March 29th, 2011
Dennis Norman
When I take my kids out for an ice cream cone it’s pointless to ask if they want one or two dips, they always go for the double dip! What’s good for ice cream sales is not good for home prices though…..and, unfortunately, it appears that home prices are choosing to go for the double dip as well…
Today the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for January was released showing home prices are off to a dismal start in 2011 and further proof that the housing market is headed toward a double-dip in home prices. The report shows Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 28th, 2011
Dennis Norman
The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for February shows an increase of 2.1 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 8.2 percent decrease from a year ago. There were some wide swings regionally in this months statistics as the Northeast region had a 10.9 percent decline from the prior month and the West had a 7.0 percent increase.
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By Dennis Norman, on March 25th, 2011
RPX Composite Home Price Fell to Lowest Level since April 2003
Radar Logic published it’s Housing Market Report for January showing that it’s “RPX Composite Price” fell 3.8 percent from December and 3.4 percent from the year before.
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By Dennis Norman, on March 23rd, 2011
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for February 2011 showing a decrease of 16.9 percent from the month before, and a decrease of 28.0 percent from a year ago.
The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for February was 250,000 homes. The supply of new homes on the market increased from an adjusted 7.4 month supply the month before to a 8.9 month supply in February. The median new home price decreased for the month to $202,100, a 13.9 percent decrease from a revised median price of $234,800 the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 22nd, 2011
Radar Logic published it’s “RPX Year in Review 2010” for the U.S. real housing market which illustrates the significant negative impact distressed sales have on home prices and the real estate market as a whole. The report reveals that “motivated sales” (sales that include REO’s, sales by financial institutions, short-sales, etc) made up less than 5 percent of the home sales in the 25 major metropolitan areas covered by the report until 2007 when the rate rose above 5 percent, ultimately peaked in 2009 at around 38 percent and then last year settled in around the 31 percent mark.
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