Asking prices rose 1.4 percent nationally in March compared with the previous quarter, according to Trulia’s Price Monitor. On a month-over-month comparison, asking prices increased 0.9 percent in March and 0.6 percent in February.
Throughout 2011, asking prices rose slightly in several months of the year, but never more than 0.2 percent in a month. Asking prices in March were 0.7 percent below their level one year earlier.
Asking rents rose over the past year in almost all large metro areas included in the Trulia Rent Monitor. In the largest metros, rents rose 6.2 percent in New York and 6.1 percent in Chicago, but only 0.6 percent in Los Angeles. Rents rose strongly in Miami (12.1 percent) and Denver (9.9 percent), which also experienced large asking price increases. Meanwhile, rental affordability declined in places where rents rose while prices fell, most notably in San Francisco (rents up 11.1 percent), Seattle (9.7 percent), San Jose (9.4 percent), and Boston (9.2 percent).
http://info.trulia.com/trulia-price-and-rent-monitor-march-2012
Wall Street Journal
Rising rents, coupled with slumping home prices and interest rates near record-lows, are boosting demand for homes at entry-level prices.
Making sense of the story
- Increased buying activity from investors and second-home purchases may be factors behind the recent pickup in home sales, but real estate agents say they are fielding more calls from anxious tenants complaining about rising rents.
- Average apartment rents rose by 2.7 percent last year, while the national vacancy rate dropped below 5 percent for the first time since 2001, according to a quarterly survey released Wednesday by REIS Inc., a real estate research firm.
- The largest rent increases came in San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., which saw increases of 5.9 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively. Such increases are one reason why industry analysts believe 2012 will be the first year since 2005 when the share of apartment renters that moves out to buy a house increases from the previous year.
- Historically, the cost to rent an apartment has been about 10 percent lower than the after-tax cost of owning a home. That rental discount began to fall in 2010 and disappeared entirely last year, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank who track housing costs. By the end of 2011, the bank’s research found that the cost to rent an apartment was about 15 percent higher than the cost to own a home.
- It isn’t always easy for home buyers to make it to the closing table though. Lending and appraisal standards remain tight, keeping many would-be buyers out of the market. And aspiring buyers are competing with savvy investors who have turned buying and reselling foreclosed homes into a business.
Read the full story
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304750404577322011443831768.html?mod=WSJ_RealEstate_LeftTopNews
Calif. median home price: February 2012: $266,660 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by region/county February 2012: Marin, $732,140 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by region/county February 2012: Tehama, $85,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. Pending Home Sales Index: February 2012: 127.8, an increase from the revised 102.4 recorded in January.
Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index: Fourth quarter 2011: 55 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage rates: Week ending 3/29/2012 30-yr. fixed: 3.99% fees/points: 0.7% 15-yr. fixed: 3.23 fees/points: 0.8% 1-yr. adjustable: 2.78% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)
New York Times
Banks often approve real estate transactions that do nothing to prevent foreclosure. But beginning this month, they can count such activities as part of their new commitment to help people stay in their homes.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/business/foreclosure-deal-gives-banks-credit-for-routine-activities.html?_r=1&ref=realestate
After years of home price declines and tightening rental markets, homeownership is now more affordable than renting in all but two of the 100 largest metros – even in expensive real estate markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Boston, according to Trulia. Only in Honolulu and San Francisco is renting often a better deal than buying. However, buying a home in these markets might make sense for people who plan to stay in their next home for at least five years and can benefit from the mortgage-interest tax deduction.
Trulia’s Winter 2012 Rent vs. Buy Index, which tracks whether it is more affordable to rent or buy a home in America’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, is based on asking prices for rental units and for-sale homes on Trulia.com between December 1, 2011, and February 29, 2012. The index reveals the relative cost of renting versus buying for similar homes in similar neighborhoods.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, homeownership is most expensive relative to renting in San Francisco, the Peninsula (San Mateo County) and in the South Bay (Santa Clara County). In the East Bay (Alameda County and Contra Costa County), where vacancies are higher and foreclosures more common, buying looks even better relative to renting than in the rest of the Bay Area. But the region overall has become more affordable, especially in San Francisco and San Mateo counties, where the price-to-rent ratio dropped more than three points between Winter 2011 and Winter 2012.
Even in real estate markets where buying is generally cheaper than renting a home, renting might actually be a better deal on a larger house. In most major metros, the price-to-rent ratio is lower for smaller homes, so buying seems even more affordable relative to renting for a one-bedroom or studio home than for a home with three or more bedrooms. In fact, renting a home with more than two bedrooms can be less expensive than buying in New York, NY-NJ and San Francisco. Size, however, factors less into the rent versus buy decision in Chicago and Miami.
More info
San Diego Union-Tribune
A California real estate agent has launched an awareness website that aims to stop strategic defaults, which are when underwater borrowers choose to walk away from their homes even though they are able to afford their mortgages.
Read the full story:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/16/website-aims-stop-strategic-defaulters/
C.A.R. and NAR applaud the Federal Housing Finance Agency for issuing a final rule to restrict Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks from investing in mortgages encumbered by private transfer fee covenants.
“NAR has long been vocal in its opposition to private transfer fees since there is virtually no oversight on where or how fee proceeds can be spent, on how long a private transfer fee may be imposed, or on how the fees should be disclosed to home buyers – and this often places an inappropriate drag on the transfer of property,” said NAR President Moe Veissi.
“To that end, we fully support FHFA’s decision to ban private transfer fees, which we believe increase the cost of homeownership, provide no benefit to home buyers and do little more than generate revenue for developers or investors.”
http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/23493/PrivateTransferFeesFinalRule31412.pdf
C.A.R. is pleased to see the Federal Housing Finance Agency take a strong position on this issue, and is hopeful this final rule will prevent organizations from threatening homebuilders with litigation until a private transfer tax benefiting their group is created.
The Los Angeles Times
Bank of America said Friday it would reduce by about $100,000 the amount owed by as many as 200,000 underwater homeowners as part of the recently announced government foreclosure settlement with top mortgage servicers.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-bank-of-america-mortgages-20120309,0,5615384.story?track=rss
Calif. median home price: January 2012: $268,280 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by region/county January 2012: Marin, $694,440 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by region/county January 2012: Tehama, $110,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. Pending Home Sales Index: January 2012: 102.4, an increase from the revised 93.1 recorded in January 2011
Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index: Fourth quarter 2011: 55 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage rates: Week ending 3/8/2012 30-yr. fixed: 3.88% fees/points: 0.8% 15-yr. fixed: 3.13 fees/points: 0.8% 1-yr. adjustable: 2.73% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)
The Los Angeles Times
The shortcomings of the $25-billion deal with five major banks seem to proliferate with each passing day.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-hiltzik-20120307,0,246162.column
