Housing News
Housing market to improve in 2013, CoreLogic reports
After finding the bottom of the market in 2012, most economists agree with CoreLogic that housing is set to see healthy improvements in 2013, marking a slow but positive recovery.
Housing in 2012 a “pleasant surprise”
CoreLogic Chief Economist, Dr. Mark Fleming called housing in 2012 a “pleasant surprise,” pointing to 2012 as the first year “not beset by any major economic shocks,” pointing to the Japanese tsunami, the Great Recession of 2010, credit rating downgrades and poor confidence levels in years past. “Gladly, the risk of a recession due to shocks of 2011 has been largely averted.”
The information provider released its January MarketPulse report indicating that home prices rose 7.5 percent in 2012, the largest annual increase seen since 2006. CoreLogic predicts home prices to rise another 6.0 percent in 2013, pointing to affordability conditions fueling steady demand, lower inventory levels, and a lower level of REO sales.
Although AGBeat continues to assert that housing has not recovered, but found its bottom in late 2012, and saw several economic indicators improve, most notably total home sales, which rose 6.0 percent in 2012, the first increase in eight years.
In 2012, non-distressed home sales rose 11.0 percent, new sales increased 3.0 percent, and home price growth occurred in most regions. Marking the third annual consecutive decline, REO sales dropped more than 20 percent in volume while short sales rose 23.0 percent, the highest level since the housing decline began.
The most hopeful sign for housing is that serious delinquencies fell to 6.9 percent from 7.4 percent in 2011, having falling by one million delinquent loans since the January 2010 peak.
Housing to improve in 2013
“Rising home prices will continue to slowly release pent-up supply as under-equitied borrowers are unlocked and opportunistic sellers begin to provide relief to tight inventories,” according to CoreLogic.
Additionally, the company forecasts that geographic diversity in home price growth will continue and that delinquency levels will continue to improve.
The National Association of Realtors has recently made statements that lending conditions remain too tight, calling for “a more sensible lending environment.”
Echoing the trade group’s concerns, CoreLogic’s positive outlook for housing comes with the caveat that “Despite improvements and a positive outlook for the coming year, uncertainty remains on the impact of qualified mortgage and qualified residential mortgage requirements.”
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
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Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
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JoeLoomer
January 15, 2013 at 6:51 am
Kinda reflects exactly what’s happening in our area – macro level shows improvement, drill down into individual zip codes and towns, and its most are, some aren’t. Almost exactly the same ratios of REO and Short Sale as the CoreLogic report.
Navy Chief, Navy Pride