Market Trends and Condition

Here are three news stories hot off the press, and all of interest to real estate investors:

***FHFA House Price Index Released***

The monthly FHFA House Price Index was released on September 22d for July 2011. Overall, U.S. house prices increased 0.8% from June to July. However, for the 12 months ending in July, prices fell by 3.3 percent. The good news is that prices rose in 8 of the 9 Census Divisions tracked by the index. Only the South Atlantic division showed a decrease of -0.4%. The other divisions broke out as follows:

Pacific +1.2%
Mountain +0.4%
West North Central +3.6%
West South Central +0.1%
East North Central +0.7%
East South Central +3.0%
New England +0.5%
Middle Atlantic +0.2%

Even with a seasonal uptick in the month of July, home prices are falling short of their levels a year earlier, according to data just released by Standard & Poor’s. Both the 20-city and 10-city composite readings of the S&P/Case-Shiller index rose 0.9 percent between June and July, but were down 4.1 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively, when compared to July 2010. Detroit and Washington, D.C. were the only metropolitan areas in the study to buck the annual trend. (From DSNews.com)

http://money.cnn.com See better link below!!

Sales of new U.S. homes fell 2.3 percent in August to a six-month low, recording their fourth straight declining month.

The Commerce Department said on Monday sales slipped to a seasonally adjusted 295,000-unit annual rate -- that's the lowest since February.

Hmmmm, four straight declining months; could a double dip be in the forecast??

FHFA House Price Index Up 0.8 Percent in July
Nearly All Census Divisions Show Increases
Washington, DC – U.S. house prices rose 0.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from
June to July, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index.
The previously reported 0.9 percent increase in June was revised to a 0.7 percent increase. For
the 12 months ending in July, U.S. prices fell 3.3 percent. The U.S. index is 18.4 percent below
its April 2007 peak and roughly the same as the March 2004 index level.
The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that
have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. For the nine census divisions,

We've been saying this since 2008. That's why I have always told real estate investors they need to be careful. You don't want tto be holding an illiquid asset when the music stops unless 1) you have enough funds to outlast the double dip; 2) your renter has a secure job and the rent pays for the mortgage; 3) you are buying so cheaply that you can flip in a bad market.

While the double dip isn't written in stone yet, it will be soon as government leaders have no vision to help the people....only vision to help themselves get re-elected.

Read the story here:

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/22/7900826-recessions-seco...

The article speaks for itself:

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/21/7876006-five-years-afte...

Quite frankly I'm seeing a lot of posts that are interesting in other forums, but where are my southern California people!Even now the median home price is $350,000 for an sfh and anything below is a townhouse and a condo which at the beginning ...we don't want to get in to.Earnest money to put a property under contract has got to be at least $3000 to $5000. Not being negative at all...that's not even close to a down payment but a lot of money! Just looking for solutions or knowledge!

Read the short story here:

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/20/7855627-us-housing-star...

What is the employment outlook like for California City?
I was recently speaking with a RE developer that said he thought this was an emerging RE market due to a boom in jobs.
Is this true, and how would I find out what companies are moving in, or adding jobs?
Thanks for any help!