It is nice to know that our long wait is over and we now know the results of the tax credit. The very fortunate news is that the government addressed two key markets as part of its extension and expansion efforts:
1. A $6,500 tax credit for existing homeowners who are in the market for a new home.
2. An extension of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers.
The extended deadline requires that consumers go into contract by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010.
Under the new requirements, an estimated 2 million Americans are expected to claim the tax benefit. The IRS estimates 1.4 million people have already claimed earlier versions of the first-time home buyer credit.
What I can tell you about the tax credit is that it was the single most important factor in improving our market. And we didn’t really fully realize the benefits it was making on our market until we saw a sudden surge in units closed and increased showings in September, October and November as consumers grew closer to the deadline. Once the deadline was extended, we saw an immediate adjustment, which shows just what an impact it has had on our market.
Also in recent news, NAR released its monthly pending home sales report which showed that sales have risen for nine months in a row, a first for the series of the index since its inception in 2001. A forward looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, the report showed a 3.7 percent to 114.1 from 110.0 in September and is 31.8 percent above October 2008 when it was 86.6. The rise from a year ago is the biggest annual increase ever recorded for the index, which is at the highest level since March 2006 when it was 115.2.
Of course it is important to point that the housing market has been underperforming for most of the past year so I would caution not to get too excited about these numbers. But the positive news is that it does show that the tax credit is working.
Now that we’re in the thrust of the holidays, I fully anticipate a seasonal market adjustment. But we also recognize that the New Year is just a few weeks ago and, if history is an indicator, we will see a large number of listings coming on the market during that time. Many of our Agents are working hard now to prepare their listings for the market in the New Year so the coming month should bring some positive new inventory to the marketplace.
Now, let’s take a look at this week in real estate:
AUBURN:
Listing inventory in the Auburn area remains low as does the sales inventory. Projections for the remainder of the year are limited, especially since we are used to seeing many bank owned properties- the lenders are unlikely to release many until after the first of the year.
Activity was higher for Ratified offers, and we saw only four multiple offers. Open home activity was also low, mostly due to the holiday period. The good news is that buyers are not only serious, but qualified as well.
The floor calls seem to be a good source for some of our most recent sales. It is quiet in the foothills and the agents that are working with buyers are still writing multiple offers and not getting an accepted contract. We have had a few more short sales approved and closed
DIXON:
Here’s some great news: both listing and sales inventory here is increasing- even though they are short sale transactions, we are happy that there is inventory to sell! Additionally, all listings are getting multiple offers! We didn’t have any open homes this past period due to the holiday weekend. A lot of buyer activity but low inventory in Dixon slows us down- looking forward to seeing more inventory after the 1st of the year.
FAIR OAKS:
The inventory is still down for the past two weeks. On the positive side, bank owned homes are selling as soon as they come in and we are seeing more traditional sales. Sales inventory is also slower the past two weeks. The agents are thinking it is because of the non-release of REOs, and nearly all of the offers are in multiple offer situations.
Numbers for ratified offers are up this month. The agents working with the buyers are finally getting accepted. A few of my listing agents have short sales going on and a few REO listings are selling immediately. The key is the pricing for our listing teams…
Open Houses have been a little slower this past two weeks. The weather was slightly warmer and not as many buyers were out there this week we are scheduled for approximately 8 to 13 scheduled Open Houses.
The Short Sales have really taken off and this is where the market is headed for. Also real sellers are considering selling. You must remember people sell and buy in any type of market. Transfer moving up buyers with larger families down sizing etc.
Buyers are still out there looking but with low inventory and multiple offers, it is highly completive. That doesn’t even calculate appraisal issues!
FOLSOM:
Inventory is on the up-tick- steady with 12 new listings and slightly increasing sales inventory. We had 21 ratified offers- with half being traditional sales!
We have to echo the rest of the offices with Open Home activity being slow due to the holiday period and good weather.
Although we don’t have any activity on our listings over $750,000 several agents are working with buyers in this price range.
The agents that are still working thru the holidays are being rewarded and the business is spread out to many agents. We had 21 new sales turned in by 15 different agents, 12 new listings turned in by 12 different agents and 20 recordings with 13 different agents. So …32 of the Folsom agents had at least one piece of business this past 2 week period. Not bad!
ROSEVILLE- GRANITE BAY:
While listing inventory is steady, the sales are decreasing. We are seeing multiple offers on a regular basis with several on short sales. Active short sales are dominating market at this time—hopefully we will see much more inventory after the first of the year!
ROCKLIN- LINCOLN:
Listing inventory is slow! As for sales, the homes that are priced under $250,000 are sold quickly with multiple offers- one property receiving 23 offers! We had 14 open homes but with light traffic.
We have several short sales approved and closed. We have just ended an escrow with a “buyer” that appeared to have given us some incorrect information that just seems to solidify the fact that we have some creative buyers and others that may be trying to structure a transaction that might be fraudulent. As such, we are being very careful to ask better questions and make sure the disclosures are handled properly and communications verified. There seems to be more activity in the direction of Beal Air Force Base.
A couple of our agents invited an airman stationed at Beal to join them for Thanksgiving. The airman, from Georgia, was new to the area and had no family or friends close by and they wanted to make sure he had a special Thanksgiving. They planned some activities for that day, however, since he did not have a TV he was more than happy to watch football all day!!!
TAHOE- TRUCKEE AREA:
Active Listings: The active listing inventory for the Tahoe-Truckee dropped 5% from last week. Currently there are 1,784 active listings - 1,195 residential properties and 589 lots and land listed for sale.
Active Listings - REO’s and Short Sales: Of the active listings, there are 171 properties listed as short sales, (9.6%) and 69 properties listed as REO sales, (3.9%). While less than 13% of the active listings are short sales and REO’s, roughly 24% of the properties selling are short sales and REO’s.
Months of Inventory: Based on the current inventory and sales for the previous 30-day period, the market has roughly 13-months of inventory available. The inventory of homes and land at today’s prices bodes extremely well for buyers interested in entering or moving up in the Tahoe-Truckee market.
Sales Summary:
Total Sales Year-to-Date 2009 Vs 2008:
On a year to date (YTD) basis there have been 978 properties sold in the market as compared to 955 for the same period in 2008. The last half of the year has seen a dramatic turnaround in sales from the first half of the year.
For properties sold YTD 2009, 151 were REO’s, (15.4%), and 80 were Short Sales, (8.2%) which results in almost 24.0% of the properties sold being a short sales or REO.
For 2009, there have been 564 properties sold priced below $500,000, 310 properties sold between $500,000 and $1,000,000 and 104 properties sold over $1,000,000.
Median and Average Sales Prices 2009 Vs 2008: The median sales price for properties sold YTD in 2009 is $450,000 while the average sale price is $590,028. For the same period in 2008, the median sales price was $501,500 and the average sales price was $720,146 which is an (10.3%) and (18.1%) reduction in price respectively for one year.
Last Week’s Sales: For the week of November 23rd to November 29th sales decreased substantially from the previous week to 18 sales mostly we suspect because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Of the properties sold last week, six (6) of those sold at a price above $750,000. In fact, one property sold was a Lakefront at $3,150,000 and the other large sale was $2,165,000. While homes under $600,000 are selling more rapidly than most, the large sales that occurred last week still point to the fact that homes priced right are being purchased by savvy buyers.
Pending Sales: Pending sales remained constant at 169 properties.
Market Activity Summary:
With December and the winter months approaching we remain encouraged that buyer interest in our market will remain good as our inventory is plentiful and sales prices are at 2003-2004 levels. Homes priced below $600,000 are where the most sales activity is occurring with multiple offers are commonplace. The upper end of the market is moving a bit slower but homes priced well are definitely in demand. Coldwell Banker currently has over 40 homes in escrow scheduled to close in the next 30-60 days.
Tahoe-Truckee Homes Prices are at 2003-04 Levels…
This week I’ll leave you with a few good articles of note:
• Whither Real Estate's Comeback; Forbes
• Mortgage Applications Increase In Latest MBA Weekly Survey; Mortgage Bankers Association
• Home Sales Contracts Soar In October; CNN Money
• Credit Helps To Lift U.S. Home Sales; NY Times
Until next week,
Make it a great one,
Bob Bronswick
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Sacramento
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment