Friday, June 29, 2012

May Las Vegas Home Sale Press Release

Las Vegas Region May Home Sales


Las Vegas-area home sales rose to a six-year high for the month of May as the number of transactions above $200,000 increased sharply from last year, making up for fairly flat sales for lower-cost properties. With foreclosure resales at the lowest level since late 2007, the median sale price rose above a year earlier for the second consecutive month, reaching a 17-month high, a real estate information service reported.

In May, 4,829 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 6.1 percent from a revised 4,550 the month before and up 5.7 percent from 4,570 sales a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

On average, sales have risen 5.0 percent between April and May since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas region statistics begin. May sales were 0.4 percent below the average number of homes sold during all months of May since 1994, and were the highest for a May since May 2006, when 7,615 homes sold.

Last month 4,246 homes resold (excludes newly built homes), up 5.1 percent from the prior month and up 2.8 percent year-over-year. Resales were 29.1 percent above average for the month of May.
May’s 583 sales of newly-built homes represented a 32.8 percent year-over-year gain, marking the 11th consecutive month to post an annual increase. It was the highest new-home total for a May since May 2008, when 943 new homes closed escrow. However, last month’s new-home sales were still nearly 63 percent below average for all months of May since 1994.

In the overall market, the higher price categories posted May’s largest year-over-year sales gains, while activity was close to flat or down a bit in the lower price segments. The total number of homes that sold for less than $100,000 fell 0.2 percent last month compared with a year earlier – a sign sub-$100,000 deals are getting harder to come by. The number of homes that sold for less than $200,000 last month rose 2.0 percent from a year earlier, while the number that sold between $200,000 and $500,000 rose 19.6 percent. The number of sales above $500,000 rose 50.8 percent compared with a year earlier. (The over-$500,000 market only accounts for about 2 percent of total sales).

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in May was $122,000 – the highest since the median was $124,000 in December 2010. Last month’s median rose 2.5 percent from $119,000 the prior month and rose 4.3 percent from $117,000 a year earlier.

May was the fourth consecutive month to post a month-to-month gain in the median, and it was the second in a row with a year-over-year increase. Prior to this April, the median hadn’t risen year-over-year since June 2010.

Last month’s 4.3 percent annual rise in the median was at least in part a reflection of the substantial drop in the share of all resales that were foreclosed properties, which tend to carry significant discounts and be concentrated in lower-cost areas. Other price measures, such as the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, showed either a smaller gain or a small year-over-year decline.

Last month’s $122,000 overall median price was 60.9 percent below the November 2006 peak of $312,000. In recent months the median has been rising off a cyclical low point of $110,000 this January – the lowest level since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994.

The median’s recent decline to levels not seen since the mid 1990s can be attributed to several factors: home price depreciation; robust sales of low-cost foreclosures; robust sales to investors, who mainly target low-cost properties; historically low new-home sales (new homes tend to sell for more than resale homes); and higher-than-usual condo resales (condos tend to be the least expensive homes).

May's new-home sales represented 12.1 percent of all transactions, compared with a monthly average of about 27 percent of all sales over the last decade. May’s condo sales represented 16.1 percent of total Las Vegas sales, compared with a 10-year monthly average of about 14 percent.

An alternative home-price gauge – the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – was $68 in May, up 1.5 percent from $67 the month before but down 1.4 percent from $69 a year earlier. (This January’s $64 median per square foot was the lowest since at least 1994.) The May figure was 64.2 percent lower than the peak $190 paid per square foot in May and June 2006.

Last month absentee buyers – mainly investors and vacation-home buyers – purchased a near-record 48.8 percent of all Las Vegas-area homes sold. That compares with 50.5 percent the month before and 46.2 percent a year earlier. The peak was 51.2 percent this March. Absentee buyers paid a median $100,000 last month, up from $96,000 the prior month and up 2.0 percent from $98,000 a year earlier. Absentee buyers are those who indicated at the time of sale that the property tax bill will go to a different address.

Cash buyers purchased 53.3 percent of the Las Vegas-area homes that sold last month. That was down from a cash-buyer share of 53.6 percent of total sales the month before and up from 53.0 percent a year earlier. The peak was 56.7 percent in February 2011. Cash purchases are where there is no sign of a corresponding purchase mortgage in the public record. Last month’s cash buyers paid a median $95,000, up from $89,900 the prior month and up 6.7 percent from $89,000 a year earlier.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – continued to trend downward last month, representing about 53 percent of the resale market. That’s down from about 59 percent the month before and 68 percent a year earlier.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 39.0 percent of Las Vegas resale activity in May. That compares with 44.3 percent the month before and 54.9 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009. Last month’s figure was the lowest for any month since December 2007, when foreclosure resales were 31.3 percent of all resales.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 13.7 percent of the resale market last month. That compares with an estimated 14.6 percent the prior month and 13.1 percent a year ago.

In the wake of a new Nevada law that creates additional requirements for lenders trying to foreclose on properties, the number of notices of default (“NODs”) filed in Clark County has plummeted in recent months. In May, lenders filed 1,344 NODs, up 5.0 percent from a revised 1,280 the prior month and down 66.9 percent from 4,056 a year earlier. The notice of default is the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

Lenders foreclosed on 905 homes in the Las Vegas region in May, down 29.2 percent from the month before and down 76.3 percent from a year earlier. Between January and May this year, lenders foreclosed on 7,261 single-family house and condo units, down 54.0 percent from the same period last year.

A form of low-down-payment financing that’s popular with first-time home buyers – government-insured FHA loans – accounted for 40.6 percent of all home purchase loans last month. That was up from 36.3 percent the prior month and down from 42.4 percent a year earlier. The current cycle’s peak for FHA use was 55.1 percent of all purchase loans in September 2008.
See the full home sale chart at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2012 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

May Phoenix Area Home Sale Press Release

Phoenix Region May Home Sales

The median price paid for a home in the Phoenix area last month rose to a 41-month high, increasing on a year-over-year basis for the sixth month in a row. The region’s overall sales trended slightly higher as mid- to high-end activity jumped again, compensating for a sharp ongoing slide in sales of lower-cost homes, especially foreclosures, a real estate information service reported.

In May, buyers paid a median $150,000 for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. It was the highest median for any month since December 2008, when the median was $154,000. Last month’s median rose 5.6 percent from April and rose 25.0 percent from May 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

The median's 25.0 percent year-over-year increase in May followed annual gains of 18.3 percent in April, 13.8 percent in March, and 7.5 percent in each of the prior three months.

Last month’s median sale price stood 43.2 percent below the all-time peak of $264,100 in June 2006, but it was 26.7 percent above the median’s post-peak trough of $118,347 in August 2011.

To some extent, the large year-over-year gains in the median sale price over the past two months reflect increased pressure on home prices. Ultra-low mortgage have helped trigger more demand at the same time the inventory of homes for sale has dwindled.

But the year-over-year jump in the median price also reflects two other trends: First, in recent months the region’s mid- to high-end markets have represented a substantially larger share of total sales. For example, last month 33.1 percent of all sales were above $200,000, compared with 24.7 percent a year ago. Second, there’s been a substantial drop in the portion of all resales that are foreclosed properties, which tend to carry significant discounts and be concentrated in lower-cost areas.

Foreclosure resales, defined as homes that were foreclosed on in the prior 12 months, fell to 24.3 percent of the resale market last month – the lowest level for any month since February 2008, when they were 22.8 percent. May’s foreclosure resale level fell from 26.6 percent the month before and 50.8 percent a year earlier. The peak level for foreclosure resales was 66.2 percent in March 2009.

Last month a total of 9,892 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the two-county Phoenix region, up 4.4 percent from the month before and up 1.7 percent from a year earlier. On average, May home sales have risen 4.7 percent from April since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Phoenix region statistics begin.

Total home sales in May were 7.6 percent short of the average number sold that month, mainly because new-home sales remain far below average. Resales of houses and condos combined in May were 5.9 percent above the historical average for that month. New-home sales were 56.4 percent below average for a May. However, sales of newly built homes have been on an upswing of late. They have risen year-over-year for 11 consecutive months, and May's 1,016 new-home sales were the highest for the month of May since 2008.

On a year-over-year basis, sales last month fell hard in the lower price categories. The number of new and resale homes that sold in May for less than $100,000 dropped 34.3 percent from a year earlier, while sales under $150,000 decreased 17.6 percent. Deals between $200,000 and $400,000 rose 37.9 percent year-over-year, while sales above $500,000 rose 36.5 percent. May transactions above $800,000 rose 17.7 percent from a year earlier.

Other Phoenix region May highlights:

  • A key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for existing single-family detached houses, increased in May to $83 – the highest since November 2008, when it was $84. Last month’s figure rose 5.1 percent from the month before and increased 23.9 percent year-over-year. The median paid per square foot has risen year-over-year for six consecutive months. The May figure stood 51.4 percent below the $171 peak median paid per square foot in May and June of 2006.
  • At the county level in May, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses in Maricopa County rose to $85, up 2.4 percent from the prior month and up 20.9 percent from a year earlier. It was the sixth consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. The Pinal County median paid per square foot was $60 last month, up 7.1 percent from the prior month and up 30.6 percent from a year earlier, marking the eighth consecutive month to see a year-over-year increase.
  • Short sales, where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property, represented an estimated 12.6 percent of last month’s resale activity. That was the same as the estimate for April and it was down from 13.7 percent a year earlier.
  • Lenders foreclosed on 2,385 Phoenix-area homes last month, up 8.9 percent from the month before and down 51.0 percent from a year earlier. The number of homes lost to foreclosure between January and May this year totaled 12,475, down 53.8 percent from the same period last year.
  • Absentee buyers, who are mainly investors and vacation-home buyers, bought 39.7 percent of all Phoenix-area homes sold last month, down from 40.2 percent the month before and down from 45.3 percent a year earlier. The peak was 47.1 percent in March 2011. Last month, absentee buyers paid a median $122,750, up from $118,750 the month before and up 20.9 percent from $101,500 a year earlier.
  • Buyers paying cash bought 43.3 percent of all homes sold last month. That was down from 45.0 percent the prior month and up from 42.0 percent a year earlier. The record for cash buying was 48.0 percent in February 2011. Last month’s cash buyers paid a median $124,000, up from $120,000 the month before and up 37.8 percent from $90,000 a year earlier.
  • The market share for FHA home loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, fell to a more-than-four-year low. Last month 26.4 percent of all Phoenix-area home purchase loans were government-insured FHA mortgages, down from 28.4 percent the month before and down from 35.3 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest since the FHA share of the purchase loan market was 25.3 percent in March 2008.
See full home sale chart at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Copyright 2012 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

May California Home Sale Press Release

California May Home Sales

June 14, 2012


An estimated 41,790 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month. That was up 9.3 percent from 38,241 in April, and up 17.6 percent from 35,536 in May 2011. Last month's sales were the highest for any May since 54,099 homes sold in May 2006.

Sales have increased on a year-over-year basis for the past 10 months. California sales for the month of May have varied from a low of 32,223 in 1995 to a high of 67,958 in 2004, while the average is 46,638. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $270,000, up 2.3 percent from $264,000 in April, and up 8.4 percent from $249,000 in May 2011. Last month’s median was the highest for any month since June 2010, when it was also $270,000. Last month was the third month in a row to post a year-over-year gain in the state’s median sale price. For the current housing cycle, the median hit a trough of $221,000 in April 2009, while it peaked at $484,000 in early 2007.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up 46.2 percent of the state’s resale market last month. It was the lowest level since the figure was also 46.2 percent in April 2008.

Of the existing homes sold in May, 28.3 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from 30.3 percent in April and down from 35.3 percent a year ago. Last month’s figure was the lowest for any month since foreclosure resales made up 23.7 percent of the resale market in December 2007. California’s all-time high for foreclosure resales was 58.5 percent in February 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.1 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was the same as the month before and up from 17.6 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,006. That was up from $997 the prior month and down from $1,026 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 55.9 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 64.3 percent below the 2006 peak of the current cycle.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity is high, but not increasing. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and cash and non-owner-occupied buying remains at a high level, DataQuick reported.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or alepage@dqnews.com

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright DataQuick. All rights reserved.

May Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

Bay Area Home Sales Up Sharply, Median Price Rises to $400,000

June 14, 2012


La Jolla, CA.--Bay Area home sales held at a six-year high last month as activity rose across the price spectrum, with the $500,000-plus market logging the biggest gains from last year. The trend toward more mid- to high-end deals, coupled with fewer foreclosures re-selling, helped the median sale price rise year-over-year for the second consecutive month, to a 22-month high, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 8,810 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 14.8 percent from 7,675 in April, and up 26.1 percent from 6,988 in May last year, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last month’s sales were the highest for a May since 2006, when 9,935 homes sold. Since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin, May sales have varied from a low of 6,216 in 2008 to a high of 13,567 in 2004. Last month’s sales were 8.8 percent below the average number sold in May since 1988. A year earlier, in May 2011, Bay Area sales were about 28 percent below average.

The year-over-year jump in home sales last month was most pronounced in the higher price categories. While sales below $300,000 rose 12.5 percent compared with May 2011, sales over $500,000 shot up 23.7 percent. Deals above $800,000 gained 19.1 percent year-over-year. In the $400,000 to $800,000 category, which would include some first-time move-up buyers, sales rose 26.2 percent.

Last month 38.5 percent of all sales were for more than $500,000, up from 38.0 percent in April and 37.0 percent in May 2011. May’s level was the highest for any month since August 2010, when 39.2 percent of the homes crossed the $500,000 threshold.

“It’s not exactly a stampede, but people are starting to move off the housing market sidelines in numbers we haven’t seen in quite a while. And it’s not just first-time buyers and investors. There are more move-up buyers in mid- to high-end coastal counties. Many have likely concluded that it makes more sense to take advantage of ultra-low mortgage rates and a relatively low price on their next home than to wait for the value of their existing home to return to some lofty level. Of course, for those who don’t have equity in their homes, it could be years before they’re able to make a move,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month rose to $400,000. That was up 2.6 percent from $390,000 in April, and up 7.5 percent from $372,000 in May 2011. Last month’s year-over-year increase was the second in a row. In April the median rose 8.3 percent from a year earlier. Before that, the median hadn’t risen year-over-year since September 2010.

The median’s low point for the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in March 2009. The peak was $665,000 in June/July 2007. Around half of the median’s 56.4 percent peak-to-trough drop was the result of a decline in home values, while the other half reflected a shift in the sales mix.

“When the median was in a nose dive a few years back we pointed out that it wasn’t just price depreciation pulling it down,” Walsh said. “The main reason the median fell so hard, so fast, was the huge shift in what was selling. Cheap foreclosures, often in lower-cost inland markets, were red hot with investors and first-time buyers. Meanwhile, the high-end market slowed to a crawl, leaving the pool of sales each month tilted toward the low end of the price spectrum. Now we’re seeing the opposite trend: Foreclosures are a significantly smaller portion of what’s selling, and the higher-cost coastal markets are seeing more activity. This shift in market mix is helping to lift the Bay Area’s median sale price.”

Last month foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 21.9 percent of the resale market. That was the same as in April and down from 26.5 percent a year ago. The April and May level was the lowest since foreclosure resales were 18.8 percent of all resales in January 2008. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent of the Bay Area’s resale market in February 2009. The monthly average since 1995 is about 10 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 21.9 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was up a tad from an estimated 21.7 percent the prior month and down from 18.1 percent a year earlier.

Credit remained tight last month in an historical context, though the share of purchase loans that were in the “jumbo” category edged higher.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 36.6 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from 35.7 percent in April, and up from 32.6 percent a year ago. Last month’s percentage was the highest since June 2011, when 36.8 percent of all purchase loans were jumbos. Jumbo usage dropped to 17.1 percent in January 2009. Before the credit crunch struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Bay Area purchase loan market.

The share of home purchase loans with adjustable mortgage rates also remains far below normal. Last month 14.2 percent of Bay Area purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages, or “ARMs,” down from 14.9 percent in April and down from 16.1 percent in May last year. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 43 percent of purchase loans were ARMs. In the current housing cycle ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of purchase loans in January 2009.

Investor and cash purchases hovered near record levels last month.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 24.6 percent of all Bay Area homes sold last month, up from 23.5 percent the prior month and up from 21.4 percent a year ago. The peak for absentee buying was 25.6 percent this February, while the monthly average since 2000 is 14.4 percent.
Absentee buyers paid a median $255,000 last month, down from $271,750 the month before and up 3.7 percent from $246,000 a year earlier. Last month’s absentee buyer median was 36.3 percent lower than the region’s $400,000 median for all homes sold in May.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no evidence of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 28.1 percent of last month's sales. That was down a hair from 28.3 percent in April, and up from 27.4 percent a year earlier. The peak was 31.5 percent this February and the monthly average going back to 1988 is 12.4 percent.

Cash buyers paid a median $273,500 last month, up from $269,500 the prior month and up 9.4 percent from $250,000 a year earlier. The median paid by cash buyers last month was 31.6 percent lower than the median paid for all homes.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 17.2 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages last month, down from 18.3 percent the month before and 21.2 percent a year earlier. Last month’s FHA share was the lowest since August 2008, when it was 14.7 percent.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,491, up from $1,473 in April, and down from $1,533 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 47.0 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 60.8 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.

See the county-level chart at DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2012 DataQuick. All rights reserved

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

May SoCal Home Sale Press Release

More Gains for Southern California Home Sales and Median Prices

 June 13, 2012
La Jolla, CA---The Southland housing market continued its long, step-by-tiny-step trek back toward normalcy in May, when the median sale price rose year-over-year for the second consecutive month, reaching a 20-month high. Home sales increased across the region but the gains were highest in coastal areas, where move-up markets have picked up steam, a real estate information service reported.

The median price paid for a home in the six-county Southland rose last month to $295,000, up 1.7 percent from $290,000 in April and up 5.4 percent from $280,000 in May 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last month’s median was the highest since the median was $295,500 in September 2010. The year-over-year gain in the May median followed a 3.6 percent annual increase in April. Before then, the median had fallen year-over-year for 13 straight months.

The rise in the median price is the result of higher demand and two other trends. First, there’s been a significant drop in the share of transactions that are foreclosed properties, which tend to sell at a discount and be concentrated in lower-cost areas. Second, a greater portion of sales are occurring in the higher-cost coastal markets. Last month, for example, sales in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties represented about 70 percent of all activity, up from 67.6 percent a year ago.

Last month’s total Southland sales rose nearly 21 percent compared with a year ago, and activity increased across the home-price spectrum. But the gains were strongest above $300,000. The volume of transactions in lower-cost markets has been restrained by, among other things, the dwindling inventories of homes for sale, especially foreclosures.

The number of Southern California homes sold in May for less than $200,000 rose 7.0 percent from a year earlier, while the number that sold for $200,000 to $400,000 increased 18.9 percent. Sales between $300,000 and $800,000 – a range that would include many move-up buyers – jumped 23.1 percent year-over-year. Sales over $800,000 rose 11.8 percent from May 2011.

"The market is being slowly nursed back to health by low interest rates, a modestly improved economy and, we suspect, a widening sense that the housing sector is at or near bottom. There’s still plenty of uncertainty swirling around out there. But it looks like more move-up buyers are concluding it makes sense in the long run to sell their homes now, even when it's hard to swallow the price. The upside for many is a good deal on the next house, and the ability to lock in both a killer mortgage rate and a relatively low property tax base,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Last month’s $295,000 median sale price was 41.6 percent below the $505,000 peak in mid 2007. It was 19.4 percent above the Southland’s low point for the current real estate cycle – $247,000 in April 2009.

In May, a total of 22,192 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties. That was up 15.1 percent from 19,284 in April, and up 20.6 percent from 18,394 in May 2011.

Home sales typically rise between April and May, with that increase averaging 6.7 percent since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

On a year-over-year basis, Southland home sales have increased for five consecutive months, with last month’s 20.6 percent annual gain the largest in the series. Sales have also increased year-over-year in nine out of the last ten months. Still, last month’s sales were 14.5 percent lower than the average sales tally for all the months of May since 1988.

The month-to-month and year-over-year increases in sales last month would not have been as great if this May hadn’t had one extra business day on which sales could close. While last month had 22 business days, this April and May 2011 had 21 business days.

Last month 22.4 percent of all Southland sales were for $500,000 or more, up from 21.0 percent in both April and a year earlier. May’s share of sales above $500,000 was the highest since July 2010, when they also made up 22.4 percent of the market. The low point for $500,000-plus sales was in January 2009, when only 13.8 percent of sales crossed that threshold. Over the past decade, a monthly average of about 28 percent of homes sold for $500,000 or more.

Distressed sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and short sales – made up 44.8 percent of last month’s resale market. That was the lowest level since the figure was 44.4 percent in March 2008.

Foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 26.7 percent of the resale market last month, down from 28.8 percent in April and 33.2 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest since foreclosure resales were 24.3 percent of the resale market in December 2007. In the current cycle, the figure hit a high of 56.7 percent in February 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.1 percent of Southland resales last month. That’s unchanged compared with the month before and up from 17.8 percent a year earlier.

Credit remained tight last month in an historical context, though the share of purchase loans that were in the “jumbo” category edged higher.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 19.1 percent of last month’s purchase lending – the highest since December 2007, when it was 21.7 percent. May’s figure was up from 18.3 percent the prior month and 17.1 percent a year ago. In the months leading up to the credit crisis that hit in August 2007, jumbos made up about 40 percent of the market.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) trended lower last month, accounting for 6.7 percent of May’s home purchase loans. That was down from April, when ARMs made up 7.0 percent of purchase loans, and down from a year earlier, when ARMs were 8.8 percent of the purchase loan market. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 36 percent of purchase loans were ARMs.

Investor and cash-only home purchases remain near record levels.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 27.0 percent of the Southland homes sold last month. That was down from 28.4 percent the prior month and up from 25.1 percent a year earlier. The record was 29.9 percent in February this year, while the monthly average since 2000 is 17.2 percent. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $225,000, up from $220,000 the month before and $212,500 a year earlier. The median paid by absentee buyers last month was about 24 percent lower than the $295,000 median paid for all homes sold in May.

Buyers paying with cash accounted for 31.3 percent of May home sales, down from 32.2 percent the month before and up from 29.2 percent a year earlier. Cash purchases peaked at 33.7 percent of all sales this February, and since 2000 the monthly average is about 15 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $232,500 last month, up from $225,000 the prior month and $220,000 a year ago. The median price paid by cash buyers was about 21 percent lower than the median paid for all homes sold last month.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 29.4 percent of all purchase mortgages last month. May’s FHA level tied the prior month’s as the lowest since August 2008, when it was 26.8 percent. The FHA level a year earlier, in May 2011, was 33.5 percent.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.
The typical monthly mortgage payment Southland buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,100, compared with $1,096 the month before and $1,154 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 53.6 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 62.0 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is much lower than peak levels reached in recent years. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

The six-county chart is available at DQNews.com.

Source: DQNews.com Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2012 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

April Miami Home Sale Press Release

Miami Region April Home Sales

June 7, 2012


Miami-area home sales rose modestly in April compared with March but fell slightly short of the year-ago level as sales continued to drop for homes priced below $200,000, offsetting gains in higher price ranges. Price measures increased again, with the region's overall median sale price rising year-over-year for the fourth consecutive month to the highest level since November 2010, a real estate information service reported.

In April, 9,752 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was up 2.2 percent from the prior month and down 0.2 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

It's normal for Miami-area sales to change little between March and April. On average, sales between those two months have dipped 0.1 percent since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area statistics begin.

April's total sales were 14.5 percent below the average number of sales in the month of April since 1997. However, if newly built homes are excluded from the sales mix, then the number of houses and condos that closed escrow in April was just 1.0 percent below the historical average for the month. The region's new-home sales were the lowest on record for an April and were nearly 78 percent below average for the month.

When viewed by price segment, April sales in the Miami area dropped 10.6 percent year-over-year for homes priced below $100,000, and fell 4.5 percent for homes below $200,000. Sub-$200,000 sales have fallen year-over-year in each of the past four months. Sales between $200,000 and $600,000 posted a 7.5 percent annual gain in April, while the number of homes that sold above $800,000 rose 18.0 percent from the same month last year.

In the Miami region's multi-million-dollar luxury market, 101 homes sold for $2 million or more in April, up 36.5 percent from both the month before and a year earlier. During the first four months of this year, 286 homes sold for $2 million or more, up 14.4 percent from the same period in 2011.

The figures are based on public property records, where either a price or loan amount was available.
In the overall Miami market, the median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in April was $140,000 - the highest for any month since the median was also $140,000 in November 2010. The April median rose 3.7 percent from $134,950 the month before and rose 12.0 percent from $125,000 a year earlier.

The Miami area's median sale price has increased year-over-year each month in 2012. It rose 6.1 percent from a year earlier in January, and rose 12.5 percent in both February and March. Prior to January this year, the median hadn't risen year-over-year since September 2007. The median stopped falling year-over-year in December 2011, when it was the same as a year earlier.

The April median was 16.7 percent higher than the current housing cycle's post-peak trough of $120,000 in January and February of 2011. April's figure was 51.7 percent lower than the Miami area's peak $290,000 median in June 2007.

The region's resale condo median rose 11.8 percent year-over-year in April, marking the seventh consecutive month in which that price measure has posted an annual gain. The median price paid for resale single-family detached houses rose 6.9 percent in April - the third month in a row with a year-over-year increase.

Another key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, rose again in April to $91 for the overall region. That was up 3.4 percent from the month before and up 7.6 percent from a year earlier - the third consecutive year-over-year gain following 19 months of annual declines. The April figure stood 52.6 percent below the peak median of $211 paid per square foot for resale houses in May 2006.

At the county level in April, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses edged up to $79 in Broward County, up 1.3 percent month-to-month and up 6.5 percent year-over-year. It was the fourth consecutive month with an annual gain. The median paid per square foot rose to $100 in Miami-Dade County, up 4.2 percent month-to-month and up 10.5 percent from a year earlier, marking the fifth consecutive month to post an annual gain. Palm Beach County's median paid per square foot increased to $99 in April, up 1.0 percent from the month before and up 0.5 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month with an annual gain.

For the overall region, the median price paid per square foot for resale condos in April rose to $86, up 2.4 percent from March and up 7.5 percent from a year earlier. The figure has risen year-over-year for seven consecutive months, but in April it was still 59.3 percent below its April 2006 peak of $211 per square foot.

Absentee buyers, including investors and vacation-home buyers, continue to snap up many of the region's condos and other lower-cost properties. Absentee buyers purchased 40.5 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in April, down from 41.8 percent in March and up from 38.8 percent a year earlier. The peak for absentee purchases was 42.6 percent in February this year. (Absentee statistics go back to January 2000).

Absentee buyers paid a median $102,000 for all new and resale houses and condos that they purchased in April, up from $95,000 the month before and up 17.9 percent from $86,500 a year earlier. Absentee buyers are investors, second-home buyers and others who indicate at the time of sale that their property tax bill will be sent to a different address.

Many absentee buyers are also cash buyers, who purchased 66.9 percent of the Miami-area homes sold in April. That was down from 67.5 percent the prior month and up from 66.6 percent a year earlier. The peak was 68.7 percent in February this year. April's cash buyers paid a median $105,000, up from $100,000 the prior month and up 16.7 percent from $90,000 a year earlier. Cash deals are where there was no indication in the public record of a purchase loan recorded at the time of sale.

Meanwhile, use of a form of low-down-payment financing that's popular with first-time homebuyers - government-insured FHA loans - inched up in April to 36.1 percent of all home purchase loans. That was up from 35.2 percent in March and down from 40.4 percent a year earlier. The March and April figures are the lowest since late 2008.

See the Miami Home Sale Chart  at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com


 

April Denver Home Sale Press Release

Denver Area April Home Sales


The number of homes sold in the Denver region rose year-over-year for the fourth month in a row in April but remained well below average. The median sale price edged above the year-ago mark for the second consecutive month and reached its highest level since June 2011, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 3,702 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in April across the eight-county Denver-Aurora metro area. That was down 1.0 percent from the prior month but up 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A small change in sales between March and April is normal. On average, sales between those two months have risen 0.4 percent since 1998, when DataQuick's complete Denver-area statistics begin. April home sales were 23.3 percent below average for all months of April since 1998. However, resales of houses and condos (excludes new-home sales) were 12.5 percent below average for an April, while new-home sales were 66.3 percent below average for the month.

During the first four months of this year Denver-area home sales totaled 12,646, up 11.2 percent from the same period last year.

The Denver metro area statistics in this report and in the table below reflect sales in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Park counties.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Denver region during April was $219,000, up 3.7 percent from the month before and up 6.8 percent from a year earlier. The median sale price has risen year-over-year for the past two months, and in three out of the last four months.

The April median was 11.5 percent lower than the Denver area's peak $247,569 median in June 2006, and it was 28.8 percent higher than the post-peak trough of $170,000 in January 2009.
The April median price paid for resale single-family detached houses rose 8.2 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. The resale condo median in April rose 12.2 percent year-over-year, the third month in a row with an annual gain.

An alternative price gauge analysts track, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, rose to $143 in April, up 4.4 percent from the prior month and up 7.5 percent from a year earlier. It was the fourth consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. The April figure was 15.6 percent lower than the peak $169 paid per square foot in March 2001.

The region's larger counties recorded the following year-over-year changes to their median price paid per square foot in April for resale houses: Adams County, up 10.4 percent, marking the third consecutive month with an annual gain; Arapahoe County, up 4.7 percent, the fourth straight month with an annual gain; Denver County, up 12.8 percent, the fifth month in a row with a year-over-year gain; Douglas County, up 3.0 percent, the second consecutive month with an annual increase; and Jefferson County, up 5.2 percent, up year-over-year for the second consecutive month.

Absentee buyers, a group that includes investors and vacation-home buyers, accounted for 23.7 percent of Denver-area April home sales, down from 25.5 percent the month before and up from 22.9 percent a year earlier. The record was 31.2 percent in February this year. Absentee buyers paid a median $160,350 in April, up from $150,361 the prior month and up 18.8 percent from $135,000 year earlier.

Buyers who appeared to have bought with cash represented 25.5 percent of April sales, down from 28.0 percent the prior month and 25.6 percent a year earlier. The figure peaked at 32.8 percent this February. All-cash buyers paid a median $162,100 in April, up from $150,844 the prior month and up 17.5 percent from $138,000 a year earlier.

Government-insured FHA loans, which are popular with first-time buyers and others using low down payments, accounted for 32.7 percent of all home purchase loans used in April. That was down from 34.8 percent the month before and down from 40.8 percent a year earlier. FHA use in the current cycle peaked at 53.4 percent of all purchase loans in November 2009.

In neighboring Boulder County, 411 new and resale houses and condos sold in April, up 3.8 percent from the prior month and up 18.8 percent from a year earlier. During the first four months of this year, Boulder County sales totaled 1,308, up 17.9 percent from the same period last year.

The median price paid for all homes sold in Boulder during April was $303,500, down 5.2 percent from the prior month and up 1.2 percent from a year earlier. The county's median price paid per square foot for resale detached houses rose in April to $196, up 3.2 percent from the month before and up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.

See Denver Home Sale Chart at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com