Summer Ends on a High Note!!

Home sales ended the summer on a high note, reaching their highest level in over six years in August. Prices went along for the ride, with the median price trending nine consecutive months of double-digit year-over-year increases. Recovery meets growth. Now we're making serious progress. According to the most recent data from the National Association of Realtors, total existing-home sales – including single-family, condos, townhomes and co-ops – increase 1.7% to an annual rate of 5.48 million in August. The pace was up from 5.39 million in July and 4.84 million in August 2012. To give you a bit more perspective on how the market is doing overall post-recovery, August sales were at the highest pace since February 2007, when they were 5.79 million. Sales have outpaced year-ago levels every month for the past 26 months. How long can we expect the trend to continue? Will we hit a peak before the end of the year? These are logical questions to which there's never a clear answer. NAR's chief economist said we may be seeing a temporary peak, citing two factors that threaten to slow pace: tight inventory and rising interest rates. There were 2.25 million existing homes available for sale in August – a 4.9-month supply at the current sales pace. This was down from a 5.0-month supply in July. The limited inventory in some markets has created multiple bid situations, meaning some buyers are being priced out. NAR said that 17% of all homes sold above the asking price in August, although 63% sold below list price – showing yet again that in housing, it's all relative to location. Some markets are moving rapidly, while others are still slogging through. In pricing, the national median price for existing homes was $212,100 in August, up 14.7% from the same month a year ago and the strongest yearly gain since October 2005. The share of distressed home sales is shrinking, accounting for 12% of August sales, down from 15% in July and the lowest since monthly tracking began in October 2008. Meanwhile, 8% of August sales were foreclosures, and 4% were short sales. The time it takes to sell a home was little changed in August – 43 days, compared with 42 days in July. However, much progress has been made in the last year, as it took 70 days on the market in August 2012. Overall, it was a fantastic summer for housing nationwide, with some markets enjoying rapid sales with multiple bids and others simply enjoying healthy pace. The question remains of whether we'll see a dip in market activity between now and the end of the year. For some markets, that's likely to happen. But for others – especially where inventory is low but buyers are eager to purchase – we'll likely continue to see growth in both volume and price. Happy fall! LPF Team Gino Blefaria CEO Intero Real Estate Services

Great News for Distressed Properties!!

As the housing market heals, foreclosure inventory is depleting quickly, CoreLogic reported Thursday.

In July, about 949,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure, down 32 percent from 1.4 million a year ago. Foreclosure inventory also showed a 4.4 percent decline from June. Year-to-date, foreclosure inventory is down by 20 percent.
Currently, about 2.4 percent of homes with a mortgage are in foreclosure inventory, the lowest level since March 2009.
In addition to shrinking foreclosure inventory, CoreLogic also reported steep declines in completed foreclosures and serious delinquencies.
According to the data provider’s estimate, about 49,000 properties were lost to foreclosure in July, down 25 percent from 65,000 in July 2012.

From June to July, completed foreclosures fell by 8.6 percent from 53,000 in the prior month.
At 5.4 percent, the serious delinquency rate decreased to the lowest level since December 2008, according to CoreLogic. The rate represents fewer than 2.2 million mortgages.
“Continued strength in the housing market will contribute to our outlook for ongoing improvement in the stock of distressed assets through the end of this year,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.
According to CoreLogic, the decreases were apparent across the country, with every state reporting an annual decline in foreclosures.
“Not surprisingly, non-judicial states have come the farthest the fastest in reducing shadow inventory and lowering delinquency rates,” noted Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.
Florida took the lead again as the state with the highest number of completed foreclosures. Over the last 12 months, about 110,000 homes were lost to foreclosure in Florida. California followed with 65,000 completed foreclosures. Other states in the top five were Michigan (61,000), Texas (45,000), and Georgia (41,000).
Florida also held the highest percentage of homes in foreclosure inventory, at 8.1 percent. New Jersey’s foreclosure inventory rate of 5.9 percent put it at second, with New York (4.7 percent), Connecticut (4.0 percent), and Maine (4.0 percent) filling out the top five.
However, in 36 states, foreclosure inventory sits below the national rate of 2.4 percent.