Market Trends and Condition

New Home Sales Spike in November

New U.S. single family home sales spiked to a seven month high in November according to Commerce Department. Sales rose 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 315,000 units from the previously reported 307,000 units.

Along with that good news, the months’ supply of houses dropped to the lowest level in 5 and ½ years in November as well. In the 12 months period through November, new home sales rose by 9.8 percent. Existing home sales and housing starts were up as well.

How Low Can Rates Go?

In my blog today I talk about REITS and whether they are a good investment today.

Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts also known as REITs by investors are offering nice dividends at a time when most investment vehicles are down sharply. For more go to : http://www.nationalreihomes.com/real-estate-news-blog.html

While the report today in the news is that foreclosures are down and at the lowest since 2007, we also read that people are staying in their foreclosed homes for years in another article although with a fight on their hands. Last week I also read or heard on the news that Some who have Freddie Mac and other such homes are being allowed to stay in them for up to a year without paying their mortgage if... http://nationalreihomes.com/real-estate-news-blog.html

HUD is accepting $100 as a down payment instead of the 3.5% they used to require for purchases in some states to unload about 40,000 properties that were owned by Countrywide Mortgage (now Bank of America)

article link below...

http://realestate.msn.com/get-a-foreclosed-home-for-100-down

Valerie

The Standard & Poor’s Case/Shiller Home Price Index just released showed that U.S. home prices fell again from September to October 2011. This report is released about 45 days after the end of the measurement period. Prices fell in 19 of the 20 cities that are tracked by the Index.

Some analysts believe this is just a blip, as there is normally a seasonal slump fall to winter. And, prices had risen for five consecutive months in at least half of the cities tracked. Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis had the largest monthly declines, with home prices in Atlanta and Las Vegas at their lowest points since the housing crisis began. Phoenix was a bright spot, with a monthly rise after three straight monthly declines.

With record low mortgage rates there was a spike in home building. It was the largest rise in home building in more than two years, in fact the highest since the collapse of Lehman's Brothers when they filed for bankrupty and we saw the decline in the financial markets. Building permits also shot up. Joseph LaVorgna the chief U.S economist for Deutsche Bank said: see more at http://www.nationalreihomes.com/real-estate-news-blog.html

http://www.nationalreihomes.com/real-estate-news-blog.html

This week’s report issued by the FHA, Federal Housing Administration, is signaling problems that could mean a taxpayer bailout in the next few years. A spike in serious delinquencies is creating concern. The report states that the number of loans three months or more behind in payments reached 9.3%, up from 8.4% in the previous period.

http://nationalreihomes.com/real-estate-news-blog.html

The real estate crisis that began in earnest in 2007 has changed some of the acronyms and ways in which real estate agents describe and market properties. Here are some of the new terms they’re using:

• S/S – no, it’s not stainless steel. It’s Short Sale, the process of offering to buy a home for less than the mortgage balance.

• Pre-approved short sale – though no short sale is ever really approved until the bank accepts the offer, some agents are using this term to describe a property on which a previous offer of the same or lower amount was accepted, but the deal fell through.

• Motivated seller – this term has been around for a long time, but in the context of the current situation, it signals even more desperation in price and timing.