DQNews Press Releases

April California Home Sales Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:37:00 +0000

California April Home Sales

May 15, 2013

An estimated 39,051 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month. That was up 3.4 percent from 37,764 in March, and up 2.1 percent from 38,241 sales in April 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last month's sales count was the strongest for an April since 48,894 homes were sold in April 2006. California April sales have varied from a low of 27,625 in 1995 to a high of 71,638 in 2004. Last month's sales were 11.1 percent below the average of 43,920 sales for all the months of April since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $324,000, which is the highest for any month since the median was $328,000 in June 2008. Last month's median was up 3.5 percent from $313,000 in March and up 22.7 percent from $264,000 in April 2012. April was the 14th consecutive month in which the state's median sale price rose year-over-year. In March/April/May 2007 the median peaked at $484,000. The post-peak trough was $221,000 in April 2009.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 13.5 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year – the lowest level since foreclosure resales were 12.6 percent of the resale market in September 2007. Last month’s figure was down from a revised 15.0 percent in March and 30.3 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent in February 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 17.7 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was down from a revised estimate of 19.7 percent the month before and 23.9 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,157. That was up from $1,134 in March and up from $1,010 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 49.8 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 59.3 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 decline. Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and peak levels reached several years ago. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, while down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

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

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright DataQuick. All rights reserved.

April Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:11:00 +0000

Bay Area Median Sale Price Back Over $500,000; Sales Dip Below Year Ago

May 15, 2013

La Jolla, CA.--The median price paid for a Bay Area home moved above the half-million-dollar mark for the first time in almost five years, pushed up by pent-up demand, an improving economy, investor activity, low mortgage interest rates and constrained supply, as well as a continued decline in distressed sales, a real estate information service reported.

The median price paid in the nine-county Bay Area rose to $510,000 in April. That was up 17.0 percent from $436,000 in March, and up 30.8 percent from $390,000 in April a year ago, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The 17.0 percent month-to-month increase is the highest in DataQuick’s Bay Area statistics, which go back to 1988.

“There’s somewhat of a perfect storm here, statistically speaking. The pent-up demand, the economy, interest rates, investor buying. Everything is in alignment right now, but that won’t always be the case. Also, it’s easier to regain lost ground. A major element to watch for between now and fall is how many homes are put on the market at these higher price points,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The Bay Area's median sale price first passed the $500,000 threshold in May 2004, when it rose to $501,000. It continued rising and held well above that level for four years, then dropped below $500,000 in June 2008 as home prices tumbled. From its $665,000 peak in June/July 2007 to its $290,000 trough in March 2009, the median plunged 56.4 percent, or $375,000. As of last month most of the Bay Area’s peak-to-trough loss had been regained. The median was up $220,000 from its March 2009 trough, meaning it had made up about 59 percent of its loss.

Much of the median's ups and downs the last five years can be attributed to shifts in the types of homes sold. When the recession hit, low-cost inland foreclosures dominated, while sales in mid- to high-end markets languished. In recent months the opposite has been the case: Sales of pricier move-up homes have surged and sales of low-cost foreclosures have plummeted.

It appears a little more than half of last month’s 30.8 percent year-over-year increase in the median was price appreciation, while the rest was shifts in market mix.

A total of 7,621 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county Bay Area in April. That was up 5.2 percent from 7,243 the month before, and down 0.6 percent from 7,667 for April a year ago. Sales have fallen year-over-year for three consecutive months, mainly reflecting the constrained inventory of homes for sale.

Historically, sales have increased an average of 4.2 percent from March to April. Since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin, April sales have varied from 5,636 in 1995 to 14,430 in 2004. Last month’s sales were 15.6 percent below the April average of 9,033.

The number of homes that sold in April for less than $500,000 decreased 25.7 percent year-over-year, while the number sold for more increased 24.9 percent, DataQuick reported.

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up about 24 percent of the resale market. That was down from about 27 percent in March and 44 percent a year ago.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 8.5 percent of resales in April, down from a revised 10.2 percent in March, and down from 21.9 percent a year ago. Last month was the lowest since 8.2 percent in October 2007. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 17 years is about 10 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 15.0 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 16.4 percent in March and down from 22.1 percent a year earlier.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 48.1 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from a revised 43.2 percent in March, and up from 35.8 percent a year ago. Last month’s jumbo share was the highest since August 2007 when it was 58.6 percent. Jumbo usage dropped as low as 17.1 percent in January 2009.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), an important indicator of mortgage availability, accounted for 14.4 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans in April. That was up from a revised 13.1 percent in March, and down from 14.9 percent in April last year. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 48.2 percent of all purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 11.0 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in April, down from 11.5 percent in March and down from 18.4 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA level has the been the lowest since summer 2008, reflecting both tougher qualifying standards and the difficulties first-time buyers have with competing with investors and other cash buyers.

The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 13.8 percent of the market, RPM Mortgage with 4.3 percent, and Stearns Lending with 3.7 percent.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 24.2 percent of all Bay Area homes. That was down from a revised 27.0 percent in March, and up from 23.5 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $362,000 in April, up 31.6 percent from a year earlier.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no sign of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 27.8 percent of sales in April. That was down from 30.8 percent the month before and down from 28.3 percent a year earlier. The monthly average going back to 1988 is 13.0 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $365,000 in April, up 35.2 percent from a year earlier.

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, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,821. That was up from $1,581 in March, and up from $1,492 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 35.8 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 52.6 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but well below peak levels reached several years ago. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the Bay Area county-by-county chart, visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

April Southland Home Sales Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:57:00 +0000

Highest Southland April Home Sales Since '06; Median Price Nears 5-Yr High

May 14, 2013

Southern California homes sold at the fastest pace for an April in seven years amid the release of pent-up demand for move-up homes and high levels of investor purchases. The median sale price rose to a 58-month high, reflecting both home price appreciation as well as the simultaneous plunge in foreclosure resales and surge in mid- to up-market buying, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 21,415 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 4.1 percent from 20,581 sales in March, and up 9.5 percent from 19,562 sales in April 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

On average, sales between March and April have risen 1.0 percent since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

Last month’s sales were the highest for the month of April since 27,114 Southland homes sold in April 2006, but they were 11.8 percent below the April average of 24,291 sales. The low for April sales was 15,303 in 1995, while the high was 37,905 in April 2004.

“This is a market that is still re-balancing. Sales of deeply discounted properties in affordable neighborhoods are way down. Activity in middle and high-end communities is on its way up. Now it's catch-up time, with a healthier economy spurring more demand and rising prices tempting more people to put their homes up for sale,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the six-county Southland was $357,000 last month, up 3.3 percent from $345,500 in March and up 23.1 percent from $290,000 in April 2012. Last month's median was the highest since June 2008, when the median was $360,000.

The median has risen on a year-over-year basis for 13 consecutive months, and those gains have been double-digit – between 10.8 percent and 23.5 percent – since last August. Still, last month's median remained 29.3 percent below the peak $505,000 median in spring/summer 2007.

It appears that well over half of last month’s 23.1 percent year-over-year gain in the Southland median sale price reflects rising home prices, with the balance reflecting the change in market mix.

Some of the Southland's most affordable housing markets, where prices were beaten down the most during the foreclosure crisis, posted some of the largest price gains. In April, the lowest-cost third of the region's housing stock saw a 20.7 percent year-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale houses. The annual gain was 18.5 percent for the middle third of the market and 15.2 percent for the top third.

Sales rose 35.4 percent year-over-year in the $300,000 to $800,000 price range – a range that would include many move-up buyers. The number sold for $500,000 or more shot up 52.7 percent from one year earlier and was at the highest level in just over five and a half years. Sales of $800,000-plus homes increased 51.4 percent year-over-year.

In April, 29.9 percent of all Southland home sales were $500,000-plus – the highest for any month since April 2008, when 31.1 percent of sales reached or crossed the $500,000 threshold. Last month's $500,000-plus level was up from 27.9 percent of sales in March and 21.0 percent a year earlier.

The number of homes that sold below $200,000 last month declined 29.8 percent year-over-year, while sales below $300,000 dipped 21.1 percent. Sales in many affordable markets have been limited not by a lack of demand, but by a lack of supply. The latter has two main causes: First, a relatively high percentage of owners can’t afford to put their homes up for sale because they owe more than those homes are worth. Second, foreclosures are way down, further limiting the supply of homes for sale.

Last month foreclosure resales – homes foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 12.4 percent of the Southland resale market. That was down from a revised 13.8 percent the month before and down from 28.8 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest since it was 10.0 percent in August 2007. In the current cycle, foreclosure resales 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 17.7 percent of Southland resales last month. That was down from an estimated 20.1 percent the month before and 24.3 percent a year earlier.

The portion of all homes sold to absentee and cash buyers dipped month-to-month but remained higher than a year ago and near peak levels.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 30.2 percent of the Southland homes sold last month. That was down from 31.1 percent in March and up from 28.4 percent a year earlier. The record was 32.4 percent in January this year, while the monthly average since 2000, when the absentee data begin, is 18.1 percent. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $281,000, up 27.7 percent from a year earlier.

Buyers paying with cash accounted for 33.5 percent of last month's home sales, compared with 35.0 percent the month before and 32.2 percent a year earlier. The peak was 36.9 percent this February, and since 1988 the monthly average is 16.0 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $295,500 last month, up 31.3 percent from a year ago. Nearly 25 percent of the homes purchased by those paying cash last month were priced $500,000 or above, compared with 17.0 percent a year earlier.

The share of homes flipped has been running higher this year compared with 2012. In April, 6.0 percent of all Southland homes sold on the open market had previously sold in the prior six months, down from a flipping rate of 6.3 percent in March and up from 4.3 percent a year ago. (The figures exclude homes that were resold after being purchased at public foreclosure auction sales on the courthouse steps).

Credit conditions appear to be improving, although only incrementally.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 26.1 percent of last month’s Southland purchase lending – the highest since September 2007, when jumbos made up 26.9 percent of the market. Last month’s figure was up from 23.8 percent the prior month and 18.3 percent a year earlier. In the months leading up to the credit crunch that struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for around 40 percent of the home loan market.

Last month 7.9 percent of Southland home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), up from 7.4 percent the prior month and up from 7.0 percent a year earlier. Last month's figure was the highest since ARMs were 8.5 percent of the purchase loan market in August 2011. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 33 percent of Southland purchase have been ARMs.

The most active lenders to Southern California home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 7.9 percent of the purchase loan market, JP Morgan Chase with 2.7 percent, and Prospect Mortgage with 2.5 percent.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 21.8 percent of all purchase mortgages last month. That was down from 22.7 percent the month before and 30.6 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA share has been the lowest since spring/summer 2008. The decline reflects tighter FHA qualifying standards implemented in recent years as well as the difficulties first-time buyers are having competing with investors.

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 $1,275, up from $1,252 the month before and up from $1,096 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 46.6 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 56.3 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and far below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the county-by-county home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

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

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

March Portland Home Sales Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:36:00 +0000

Portland Region March Home Sales

Sales of Portland-area homes fell short of the historical March average but were still the highest for that month in five years thanks to relatively strong condo resales, which hit a six-year high. The median price paid for all homes sold in the five-county region climbed to a 45-month high as deals over $200,000 shot up and sales of sub-$200,000 homes, especially foreclosures, fell sharply, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 2,699 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during March in the five-county Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area. Sales rose 35.5 percent from the prior month and rose 13.5 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

On average, sales between February and March have risen 37.1 percent since 1994, when DataQuick's complete Portland-area statistics begin.

Although March's sales tally was the highest for that month in five years, it was 22.6 percent short of the average sales total for all months of March since 1994. While sales of existing (not new) single-family detached houses and newly built homes fell 21.1 percent and 44.6 percent short of the March sales average, respectively, condo resales were 32.4 percent above average.

The number of homes that sold for less than $100,000 in March fell 47.3 percent year-over-year, while sub-$150,000 deals declined 35.4 percent. However, sales between $200,000 and $600,000 (a typical move-up range) jumped 40.6 percent from a year earlier, while sales over $500,000 rose 85.6 percent. Viewed another way, this March sales over $200,000 made up 67.0 percent of total sales, compared with 53.1 percent in March 2012.

The Portland metro area statistics in this report and in the table below reflect sales in Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos that closed escrow in the Portland region during March was $240,000, up 4.7 percent from the prior month and up 14.3 percent from a year earlier. March's median was the highest since the median was $242,000 in June 2009. The median has risen on a year-over-year basis for 13 consecutive months.

The March median was 17.1 percent lower than the peak $289,000 median in October 2007, and it was 23.1 percent higher than the post-peak trough of $195,000 in January last year.

Another price measure analysts track, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, rose to $147 in March. That was up 5.8 percent from the month before and up 16.7 percent from a year earlier. March's figure was 23.8 percent below the June 2007 peak of $193.

Among the Portland region's counties, the median paid per square foot in March for resale detached houses rose 18.0 percent from a year ago in Clackamas County, while the median rose 24.8 percent year-over-year in Multnomah County. The figure increased 13.0 percent year-over-year in Washington County, 2.8 percent in Yamhill County, and 9.0 percent in Clark County, Washington.

Sales of distressed properties - the combination of foreclosure resales and short sales - accounted for roughly 24 percent of the Portland area's resale market in March, down from about 41 percent a year earlier.

Foreclosure resales - homes foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - made up 8.7 percent of the March resale market, down from 11.2 percent the month before and down from 24.8 percent a year earlier.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - accounted for an estimated 15.7 percent of the March resale market. That was down from 16.8 percent the month before and down from 16.3 percent a year earlier.

Meanwhile, lenders foreclosed on 218 single-family houses and condo units in the five-county Portland area during March, up 3.3 percent from the month before and down 42.6 percent from a year earlier. During the first three months of this year, foreclosures totaled 605, down 49.4 percent from the same period last year. The foreclosure figures are based on the number of Trustees Deeds filed with county recorder offices. The document is filed when a home is lost to foreclosure.

Absentee buyers, which are mainly investors and vacation-home buyers, accounted for 28.0 percent of the Portland area's total March home sales, down from 28.3 percent the month before and up from 26.8 percent a year earlier. The peak was 31.7 percent in April 2012. (The absentee data series goes back to 2000). Absentee buyers paid a median $221,000 in March, up 14.3 percent from a year earlier.

Among these investors are many buyers who pay cash - a group that accounted for 23.4 percent of all Portland-area home sales in March. That was down from 26.6 percent the month before and 27.3 percent a year earlier. The peak was 31.6 percent in January 2011. Cash buyers paid a median $196,750 in March, up 15.7 percent from a year earlier.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular, low-down-payment option for many first-time buyers, represented 21.7 percent of all home purchase loans used in the Portland area in March. That was the same as the month before and was down from 28.6 percent a year ago. In recent months the FHA level has been the lowest since the first half of 2008. The peak for FHA use during the current housing cycle was 42.3 percent in November 2009.

To view the Portland MSA home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

March Miami Region Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:47:00 +0000

Miami Region March Home Sales

May 6, 2013

Miami-area home sales rose above a year earlier for the 11th consecutive month in March amid sizeable gains in mid- to high-end activity and a record level of sales to investors and other absentee buyers. The median price paid for a home rose 14.1 percent from a year ago, marking the 15th month in a row with a year-over-year increase, a real estate information service reported.

In March, 10,215 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. March sales rose 18.8 percent from the prior month and rose 7.1 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A sharp sales gain between February and March is normal for the season, with the change between those two months averaging 26.7 percent since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area statistics begin.

This March's total sales fell 8.4 percent short of the average number of sales in March since 1997. While resale houses and newly built homes (houses and condos combined) fell short of the average March sales level by 12.5 percent and 76.4 percent, respectively, resales of condos rose 32.8 percent above the March average.

During the first quarter of this year (January through March), a total of 28,294 homes sold in the Miami region, up 14.2 percent from first-quarter 2012. First-quarter 2012 condo sales rose 9.2 percent year-over-year, while first-quarter single-family house resales rose 19.5 percent and sales of all newly built homes increased 18.9 percent.

When viewed by price segment, the Miami area's March sales dropped 11.2 percent year-over-year for homes priced below $100,000, and dipped 3.3 percent for homes below $200,000. The number of homes sold in the typical move-up range between $200,000 and $600,000 jumped 24.9 percent year-over-year in March, while the number of homes that sold above $800,000 rose 27.0 percent from the same month last year.

In the Miami region's multi-million-dollar luxury market, 124 homes sold for $2 million or more in March, up 63.2 percent from one year earlier. In the first three months of this year, 278 homes sold for $2 million or more, up 48.7 percent from the same period last year. 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 March was $154,000. That was up 0.7 percent from the month before and up 14.1 percent from a year earlier. The median has risen year-over-year for 15 consecutive months, and those gains have been double-digit for the past eight months.

This March's median was 28.3 percent higher than the current housing cycle's post-peak trough of $120,000 in January and February of 2011, but it was still 46.9 percent lower than the Miami area's peak $290,000 median in June 2007.

The region's resale condo median rose 14.0 percent year-over-year in March, marking the 18th consecutive month in which that price measure has posted an annual gain. The median price paid for resale single-family detached houses rose 24.2 percent in March compared with a year earlier, marking the 14th consecutive month with a year-over-year gain.

The median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses rose to $114 in March, up 17.5 percent from a year earlier. The figure has risen year-over-year for 19 consecutive months. March's level was 40.7 percent below the May/June 2006 peak of $192 per square foot.

The region's median price paid per square foot for resale condos was $95 in March, up 12.7 percent from a year earlier. It was the 18th consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. March's median paid per square foot for resale condos was 55.2 percent below the April 2006 peak of $211.

Other Miami region March highlights:
•Absentee buyers purchased a record 43.6 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in March, up from 43.4 percent the month before and up from 41.8 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers paid a median $115,000 for all new and resale houses and condos that they purchased, up 21.1 percent from a year earlier. Absentee buyers are investors, vacation-home buyers and others who indicate at the time of sale that the property tax bill will be sent to a different address.
•In March, 315 buyers purchased two or more homes, up from 294 in March 2012. This March's multi-home buyers purchased 979 properties, or 9.6 of all homes sold in the region. That was 16.4 percent more properties than multi-home buyers purchased in March last year, when they acquired 8.8 percent of all homes sold that month.
•Buyers who had a foreign mailing addresses in the public record accounted for 5.3 percent of all Miami-area homes bought in March, and 9.1 percent of the region's condo resales. About 54.4 percent of the identified foreign buyers bought in Broward County, while about 31.8 percent bought in Palm Beach County and 13.8 percent in Miami-Dade. (Note: Not all foreign buyers use a foreign mailing address, hence cannot be tracked with public records.)
•Cash buyers purchased 66.6 percent of the Miami-area homes sold in March. That was up from 65.5 percent the month before and down from 67.5 percent a year earlier. The peak was 68.7 percent in February 2012. March's cash buyers paid a median $118,000, up 18.0 percent from 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.
•Use of a form of low-down-payment financing popular with first-time homebuyers - government-insured FHA loans - accounted for 29.5 percent of all home purchase loans in March, down from 30.2 percent in February and 35.2 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA share of the purchase loan market has dropped to the lowest level since fall 2008. The decline reflects tighter FHA qualifying standards implemented in recent years as well as the difficulties first-time buyers have competing with investors.

To view the March Miami home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

March Las Vegas Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:50:00 +0000

Las Vegas Region March Home Sales

Las Vegas-area home sales fell below a year earlier for the 10th consecutive month in March as housing demand continued to outweigh the supply of homes on the market. Sales of lower-cost foreclosed properties remained at relatively low levels, while activity surged again in the mid-to-upper price ranges. This ongoing shift in market mix helped push the median sale price up nearly 35 percent from a year earlier, a real estate information service reported.

In March, 4,485 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 11.8 percent from the month before and down 10.7 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

Sales normally jump from February to March, with that gain averaging 27.0 percent since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas area statistics begin.

Total sales in March were the lowest for that month in four years and were 9.4 percent below the average number of homes sold during all months of March since 1994. However, if newly built homes are excluded, March sales were above average. Resales of houses and condos combined were 13.2 percent higher than average for the month of March, while sales of newly built homes were 57.0 percent below average for the month. Although new-home sales remain low in an historical context, they’ve been rising in recent months, increasing 17.5 percent in March compared with a year earlier. New-home sales this March were the highest for that month in five years.

In the overall market in March, sales of mid- to high-cost homes continued to jump compared with year-ago levels, while the number of low-end deals fell sharply.

Sales of homes priced below $100,000 declined 49.3 percent in March compared with a year earlier. The number of transactions below $200,000 fell 25.6 percent year-over-year. March sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – jumped 55.1 percent from a year earlier, while the number sold over $500,000 rose 71.4 percent. (Sales from $200,000 to $500,000 accounted for 28.0 percent of all sales, while the $500,000-plus market made up 3.2 percent of all sales).

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in March was $155,000, which is the highest since the median was $159,000 in January 2009. This March's median rose 6.9 percent from $145,000 in February and shot up 34.8 percent from $115,000 in March 2012. The median has risen year-over-year for 12 consecutive months, with those gains ranging from 1.7 percent to 34.8 percent. The year-over-year gains have been double digit for nine consecutive months.

The last time the year-over-year increase in the Las Vegas-area median sale price exceeded March's 34.8 percent annual gain was in January 2005, when the region’s $262,000 median jumped 36.5 percent compared with a year earlier.

Recent sharp gains in the median sale price reflect price appreciation triggered by strong demand meeting a relatively low supply of homes for sale, as well as changes in market mix. Fewer of the homes re-selling now are low-cost foreclosed properties, and more are mid-to high-end homes. Included in the latter group are newly built homes, which on average sell for more than resale homes. In March, new homes accounted for 15.3 percent of total sales, up from 11.6 percent of sales a year earlier.

Despite the median’s big year-over-year jump in March, it was still 50.3 percent below its November 2006 peak of $312,000. The median has been rising off a cyclical low point of $110,000 in January 2012, which was the lowest level since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994.

An alternative home-price gauge – the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – rose to $86 in March. That was up 7.5 percent from February and up 32.3 percent from a year earlier, marking the 10th consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. March’s median paid per square foot was 54.8 percent lower than the peak $190 paid per square foot in May and June 2006.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 13.5 percent of Las Vegas resale activity in March. That was up from 11.6 percent the month before and down from 47.0 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – accounted for an estimated 33.1 percent of the Las Vegas-area resale market in March. That compares with an estimated 36.8 percent the prior month and 28.2 percent a year earlier. The estimated short sale level has exceeded the foreclosure resale level for the past 10 months.

In the wake of an October 2011 Nevada law that created additional requirements for lenders trying to foreclose on properties, the number of notices of default (“NODs”) filed in Clark County plummeted. However, in recent months NODs have trended higher compared with a year earlier. In March, lenders filed NODs on 2,053 single-family houses and condo units, up 0.7 percent from the prior month and up 62.8 percent from a year earlier. The notice of default is the first step in the formal foreclosure process. During the first three months of 2013 lenders filed 6,127 NODs, up 90.0 percent from the same period last year.

In March, lenders foreclosed on 686 single-family house and condo units in the Las Vegas region, down 0.9 percent from the month before and down 50.8 percent from a year earlier. During the first three months of 2013 lenders foreclosed on 2,200 homes, down 56.7 percent from the same period last year.

Many of these distressed homes are purchased by investors, who continue to account for a record or near-record share of all sales.

Absentee buyers – mainly investors and vacation-home buyers – purchased a record 53.2 percent of all homes sold in the Las Vegas area in March. That was up from 52.4 percent the month before and up from 51.2 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers paid a median $134,000 in March, up 41.1 percent from 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.

In March, 150 Las Vegas-area buyers purchased two or more homes on the open market (excludes foreclosure auctions). That was down from 185 multi-home buyers during March 2012, based on an analysis of buyer names in the public record. (Note: In some cases individuals and partnerships buy under different names). In March this year, multi-home buyers purchased 647 homes in the Las Vegas area, which amounts to 14.4 percent of all homes sold and represents a 20.0 percent increase from the number of properties that multi-home buyers purchased in March 2012. There were 23 buyers in March 2013 that each purchased five or more homes, but only six bought 10 or more. Combined, the six buyers who purchased 10 or more homes in March 2013 acquired 255 properties, or nearly 40 percent of all homes bought by multi-home buyers. In March 2012, four purchasers bought 10 or more homes, acquiring a total of 83 properties.

Cash buyers purchased 54.5 percent of the Las Vegas-area homes that sold in March. That was down from a cash-buyer share of 56.5 percent of total sales the month before and up from 54.4 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. Cash buyers paid a median $128,000 in March, up 47.1 percent from a year earlier.

The share of homes flipped has trended higher in recent months. In March, 6.8 percent of all Las Vegas-area homes sold on the open market had previously changed hands in the prior six months. That was down from a flipping rate of 7.2 percent in February and up from 4.3 percent a year ago. (The figures exclude homes that were resold after being purchased at public foreclosure auctions on the courthouse steps.)

To view the Las Vegas chart, visit DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

1Q2013 California Foreclosures Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:02:00 +0000

Golden State Foreclosure Starts Lowest Since Late 2005

April 23, 2013

The number of California homeowners entering the foreclosure process plunged to the lowest level in more than seven years last quarter. The unusually sharp drop in the number of mortgage default notices filed by lenders stems mainly from rising home values, a strengthening economy and government efforts to reduce foreclosures, a real estate information service reported.

During first-quarter 2013 lenders recorded 18,567 Notices of Default (NoDs) on California houses and condos. That was down 51.4 percent from 38,212 during the prior three months, and down 67.0 percent from 56,258 in first-quarter 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last quarter's number was the lowest since 15,337 NoDs were recorded in fourth-quarter 2005. NoDs peaked in first-quarter 2009 at 135,431. DataQuick's NoD statistics go back to 1992.

"Foreclosure starts were already trending much lower late last year because of rising home prices, a stronger labor market and the settlement agreement between the government and some lenders. But it appears last quarter's drop was especially sharp because of a package of new state foreclosure laws - the 'Homeowner Bill of Rights' - that took effect January 1. Default notices fell off a cliff in January, then edged up. In recent years we've seen temporary lulls in foreclosure activity after new laws kick in and lenders adjust. It's certainly possible foreclosure starts will pick up at some point this year if lenders need to play a lot of catch-up," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

"Rising home prices will be key to the final mop-up of the foreclosure mess," he added. "As values rise, fewer people owe more than their homes are worth, and more people can refinance into a more favorable loan. It also means more who fall on hard times can sell their homes for enough to pay off the loan."

The median price paid for a California home last quarter was $297,000, up 22.7 percent from a year ago, DataQuick reported.

NoD filings fell in all home price categories last quarter. But mortgage defaults remained more concentrated in California's most affordable neighborhoods. Zip codes with first-quarter 2013 median sale prices below $200,000 collectively saw 2.9 NoDs filed for every 1,000 homes in those zip codes. The ratio was 1.9 NoDs per 1,000 homes for zip codes with $200,000 to $800,000 medians, while there were 0.7 NoDs filed per 1,000 homes for the group of zips with medians above $800,000.

Most of the loans going into default are still from the 2005-2007 period. The median origination quarter for defaulted loans is still third-quarter 2006. That has been the case for more than three years, indicating that weak underwriting standards peaked then.

On primary mortgages, California homeowners were a median 8.6 months behind on their payments when the lender filed the Notice of Default. The borrowers owed a median $14,380 on a median $310,000 mortgage.

On home equity loans and lines of credit in default, borrowers owed a median $4,971 on a median $68,099 credit line. The amount of the credit line that was actually in use cannot be determined from public records.

The most active "beneficiaries" in the formal foreclosure process last quarter were Wells Fargo (5,546), JP Morgan Chase (3,863) and Bank of America (2,565).

The trustees who pursued the highest number of defaults last quarter were Recontrust Co. (mainly for Bank of America and Bank of New York), Quality Loan Service Corp (Wells Fargo and others) and Trustee Corps (for Green Tree Servicing, JP Morgan Chase and others).

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. Notices of Default are recorded at county recorders offices and mark the first step of the formal foreclosure process.

Although 18,567 default notices were filed last quarter, they involved 18,010 homes because some borrowers were in default on multiple loans (e.g. a primary mortgage and a line of credit).

Among the state's larger counties, loans were least likely to go into default last quarter in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Marin counties, based on an analysis of how many NoDs were filed for every 1,000 homes in existence. The probability was highest in Riverside, San Bernardino, Solano and San Joaquin counties. The analysis excluded counties with fewer than 50,000 homes.

Trustees Deeds recorded (TDs), or the finalized loss of a home to the formal foreclosure process, dropped to a six-year low last quarter. TDs totaled 13,591, down 35.7 percent from 21,127 foreclosures in the prior quarter, and down 55.1 percent from 30,261 foreclosures in first-quarter 2012. Last quarter's foreclosure tally was the lowest for any quarter since first-quarter 2007, when 11,032 homes were foreclosed on. The all-time peak was 79,511 foreclosures in third-quarter 2008. The state's all-time low was 637 in second-quarter 2005, DataQuick reported.

Just as with mortgage default filings, foreclosures remained far more concentrated in the state's most affordable communities. Zip codes with first-quarter 2013 median sale prices below $200,000 collectively saw 2.9 homes foreclosed on for every 1,000 homes in existence. That compares with 1.2 foreclosures per 1,000 homes for zips with medians from $200,000 to $800,000, and 0.3 foreclosures per 1,000 homes in the group of zips with medians over $800,000.

On average, homes foreclosed on last quarter took 8.1 months to wind their way through the formal foreclosure process, beginning with an NoD. That's down from an average of 8.9 months the prior quarter and down from 8.5 months a year earlier.

At formal foreclosure auctions held statewide last quarter, an estimated 47.6 percent of the foreclosed properties were bought by investors or others that don't appear to be lender or government entities. That was up from an estimated 41.7 percent the previous quarter and up from 33.7 percent a year earlier, DataQuick reported.

Foreclosure resales - properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - accounted for 17.3 percent of all California resale activity last quarter. That was up slightly from 16.6 percent the prior quarter and down from 33.6 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 57.8 percent in first-quarter 2009. Among the state's larger counties last quarter, foreclosure resales varied from 6.9 percent in San Francisco County to 29.9 percent in Tulare County.

Lenders' shift toward short sales as a foreclosure alternative has helped lower foreclosure activity in recent years. Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 20.2 percent of the state's resale market last quarter. That was down from an estimated 24.2 percent the prior quarter and 24.8 percent a year earlier. However, the estimated number (rather than percentage) of short sales last quarter dipped just 1.5 percent from first-quarter 2012.

For County-by-County NOD and Foreclosure counts, see DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

March California Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:16:00 +0000

California March Home Sales

April 18, 2013

An estimated 37,764 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month. That was up 31.5 percent from 28,719 in February, and up 0.8 percent from 37,481 sales in March 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

It’s normal for sales to shoot up between February and March. California March sales have varied from a low of 24,565 in 2008 to a high of 68,848 in 2005. Last month's sales were 13.5 percent below the average of 43,648 sales for all the months of March since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $313,000, up 8.3 percent from $289,000 in February and up 24.7 percent from $251,000 in March 2012. March was the 13th consecutive month in which the state's median sale price rose year-over-year. In March/April/May 2007 the median peaked at $484,000. The post-peak trough was $221,000 in April 2009.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 15.2 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year – the lowest level since foreclosure resales were 12.6 percent of the resale market in September 2007. Last month’s figure compares with 18.0 percent in February and 32.8 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent in February 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 21.5 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was down from an estimated 22.4 percent the month before and 24.5 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,134. That was up from $1,042 in January and up from $901 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 50.6 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 59.9 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 decline. Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and peak levels reached several years ago. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, while down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

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

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright DataQuick. All rights reserved.

March Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:33:00 +0000

Bay Area Home Sales Dip Below 2012 Level Again; Median Sale Price Rises

March 18, 2013

La Jolla, CA.--Bay Area home sales fell below a year earlier for the second consecutive month in March as demand continued to outstrip supply in many markets. While low-end sales fell sharply compared with March 2012, $500,000-plus transactions jumped, helping to push the median sale price up on a year-over-year basis for the 12th consecutive month, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 7,263 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 34.4 percent from 5,404 the month before, and down 6.0 percent from 7,723 in March 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

It’s normal for sales to jump between February and March, with that gain averaging 39.5 percent since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. March sales have ranged from a low of 4,898 in 2008 to a high of 12,645 in 2004. Last month's sales were 17.1 percent lower than the March average of 8,758.

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area last month was $436,000. That was up 7.7 percent from $405,000 in February and up 21.8 percent from $358,000 in March last year.

The median has risen on a year-over-year basis for 12 consecutive months, with double-digit year-over-year gains the last ten months, and increases above 20 percent for the past five months.

Still, last month's median was 34.4 percent lower than the $665,000 peak in June and July of 2007. In March 2009 the median hit its post-peak low of $290,000. That trough was an almost absurdly low level for the Bay Area, reflecting both widespread price declines as well as robust sales of heavily discounted inland foreclosures at a time high-end sales were all but dormant.

It appears that well over half of the 21.8 percent year-over-year increase in March's median sale price reflects rising home prices. It's Economics 101: Prices go up as growing demand meets an exceptionally low supply of homes for sale. However, a portion of the March median's year-over-year gain reflects a change in market mix – sales of low-cost distress homes have fallen sharply, while sales of pricier move-up homes have shot up.

“Higher sales in the middle and top of the housing market reflect improved consumer confidence, ultra-low mortgage rates and the unleashing of more pent-up demand than many anticipated. There’s been a shift in psychology, where more people worry prices will rise and fewer fear a decline. It’s drawn a lot of folks off the fence following a long stretch of sub-par sales, especially in the higher price ranges. In the more affordable markets, we’ve seen a big drop in foreclosures, which limits the supply of homes for sale. Then you have homeowners who still can't sell because they owe more than their homes are worth,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“The more prices rise, though, the more likely we'll see a lot more people put their homes on the market,” Walsh added. “There’s pent-up demand among potential sellers, too, and many will try to move as soon as it makes sense. A substantial jump in inventory would at least moderate home price growth.”

Last month the number of homes that sold for less than $500,000 fell 18.9 percent compared with March 2012, while the number that sold for $500,000 or more rose 25.2 percent, DataQuick reported.

Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up about 30 percent of the resale market in March. Last month’s figure, which was the lowest in five years, was down from about 35 percent in February and down from about 49.0 percent a year ago.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 10.7 percent of Bay Area resales last month, down from 14.0 percent in February, and down from 25.5 percent a year ago. Last month’s level was the lowest since foreclosure resales were 10.1 percent of the resale market in November 2007. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average over the past 18 years is 10.2 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 19.0 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 20.5 percent in February and down from 23.8 percent a year earlier.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 39.7 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from 37.1 percent in February, and up from 30.7 percent a year ago. Jumbo usage dropped as low as 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.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), another indicator of mortgage availability, accounted for 12.7 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans last month. That was up from 11.0 percent in February, and up from 11.6 percent a year ago. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for a monthly average of about 42 percent of all purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of purchase loans in January 2009.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular, low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 12.3 percent of home purchase mortgages in March. That was down from 14.6 percent in February and down from 20.9 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA level has been the lowest since summer 2008, reflecting both tougher qualifying standards and the difficulties first-time buyers have competing with investors and other cash buyers.

The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 14.8 percent of the purchase loan market, Stearns Lending with 4.5 percent, and RPM Mortgage with 3.6 percent.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 27.3 percent of all Bay Area homes. That was down from 28.7 percent in February, and up from 24.2 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $324,000 in March, up 29.6 percent from $250,000 a year earlier.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no sign of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 31.1 percent of sales in March. That was down from 32.3 percent the month before and up from 29.4 percent a year earlier. The monthly average going back to 1988 is 12.9 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $325,000 in March, up 30.0 percent from $250,000 a year earlier.

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 for Alameda and San Francisco counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,579. That was up from $1,460 in February, and up from $1,359 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 44.1 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 58.7 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity is well below year-ago and peak levels reached in the last few years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the county-by-county chart, visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

March Southland Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:21:00 +0000

Southland Median Home Sale Price Climbs Again; Sales Rise Slightly Yr/Yr

April 17, 2013

The median price paid for a Southern California home hit a 56-month high in March, rising 23.4 percent from a year earlier as the impact of foreclosures continued to fade and sales of mid- to high-end homes shot up. Total sales were the highest in six years for a March despite a sharp drop in sub-$300,000 deals, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 20,581 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 29.1 percent from 15,945 sales in February, and up 3.1 percent from 19,953 sales in March 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Sales normally jump between February and March, with that month-to-month gain averaging 36.4 percent since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

Last month’s sales were the highest for the month of March since 21,856 Southland homes sold in March 2007, but they were still 15.1 percent below the March average of 24,254 sales. The low for March sales was 12,808 in 2008, while the high was 37,030 in March 2004.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the six-county Southland was $345,500 last month, up 8.0 percent from $320,000 in February and up 23.4 percent from $280,000 in March 2012. Last month's median was the highest since July 2008, when it was $348,000.

The median has risen on a year-over-year basis for 12 consecutive months, and those gains have been double-digit – between 10.8 percent and 23.5 percent – since last August.

“It’s remarkable how much the housing scene has changed in a year. At this point in 2012 there were still plenty of folks sitting on the market’s sidelines, waiting to be sure the recovery was real. But gradually the psychology shifted as the economy picked up steam and mortgage rates fell to historic lows. We’re seeing the release of a lot of pent-up demand, especially in the middle and higher-priced neighborhoods where activity had been sluggish for years,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“Price measures continue to rise for two simple reasons,” Walsh added. “First, demand for homes has risen at a time when the available supply is unusually low. Prices have had nowhere to go but up in many areas. Second, the gains are especially high right now because of the change in market mix: Sales of lower-cost homes have fallen at the same time activity in the higher price ranges has risen.”

It appears that better than half of last month’s 23.4 percent year-over-year gain in the Southland median sale price reflects rising home prices, with the balance reflecting the change in market mix.

Some of the biggest price gains have come in the lower end of the market, which was hit hardest by foreclosures and price declines during the downturn. In March, the lowest-cost third of Southern California's housing stock saw a 24.6 percent year-over-year increase in the median price paid per square foot for resale houses. The gain from a year earlier was 17.1 percent for the middle third of the market and 14.3 percent for the top third.

Sales continued to surge in move-up markets last month. The number of homes sold in March for between $300,000 and $800,000 – a range that would include many move-up buyers – rose 29.5 percent year-over-year. The number of homes sold for $500,000 or more jumped 40.2 percent from one year earlier, while sales of $800,000-plus homes increased 33.4 percent year-over-year.

Last month, 27.2 percent of all Southland home sales were for $500,000 or more, compared with a revised 24.4 percent in February and 19.6 percent a year earlier.

Sales continued to fall on a year-over-year basis in many lower-cost communities. The number of homes that sold below $200,000 last month declined 33.3 percent year-over-year, while sales below $300,000 dipped 24.5 percent. Sales in many affordable markets have been limited not by a lack of demand, but by a lack of supply. The latter has two main causes: First, a relatively high percentage of owners can’t afford to put their homes up for sell because they owe more than the homes are worth. Second, foreclosures are way down.

Last month foreclosure resales – homes foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 13.9 percent of the Southland resale market. That was down from 16.2 percent the month before and down from 31.5 percent a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the lowest since it was 13.6 percent in September 2007. In the current cycle, foreclosure resales 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 21.5 percent of Southland resales last month. That was down from an estimated 22.3 percent the month before and 24.6 percent a year earlier.

The share of investor and cash buying remained near all-time highs.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 30.6 percent of the Southland homes sold last month. That was down from 32.3 percent in February and up from 28.2 percent a year earlier. The record was 32.4 percent in January, while the monthly average since 2000, when the absentee data begin, is 18.0 percent. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $274,000, up 29.2 percent from a year earlier.

The share of homes flipped has trended higher in recent months, though it edged lower last month. In March, 6.1 percent of all Southland homes sold on the open market had previously sold in the prior six months, down from a flipping rate of 6.7 percent in February and up from 4.0 percent a year ago. (The figures exclude homes that were resold after being purchased at public foreclosure auction sales on the courthouse steps.)

Buyers paying with cash accounted for 34.1 percent of last month's home sales, compared with a record 36.9 percent the month before and 32.4 percent a year earlier. Since 1988 the monthly average is 16.0 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $280,750 last month, up 30.6 percent from a year ago.

Credit conditions have shown signs of modest improvement.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 23.8 percent of last month’s Southland purchase lending – the highest since September 2007, when jumbos made up 26.9 percent of the market. Last month’s figure was up from 21.1 percent the prior month and 16.4 percent a year earlier. In the months leading up to the credit crunch that struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for around 40 percent of the home loan market.

With fixed rates on 30-year loans so low, and aversion to risk in the marketplace high, the use of adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) remains very low in an historical context. Last month 7.4 percent of Southland home purchase loans were ARMs, up from 5.6 percent the prior month and up from 6.2 percent a year earlier. Last month's figure was the highest since ARMs were 8.5 percent of the purchase loan market in August 2011. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 33 percent of Southland purchase have been ARMs.

The most active lenders to Southern California home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 8.2 percent of the purchase loan market, imortgage.com with 2.8 percent, and both Prospect Mortgage and Bank of America with 2.4 percent.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 22.9 percent of all purchase mortgages last month. That was down from 24.6 percent the month before and 30.0 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA share has been the lowest since summer 2008. The decline reflects tighter FHA qualifying standards implemented in recent years as well as the difficulties first-time buyers are having competing with investors.

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 $1,252, up from $1,154 the month before and up from $1,063 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 47.8 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 57.3 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and far below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the county-by-county chart, visit DQNews.com.

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

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

February Phoenix Home Sales Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:57:00 +0000

Phoenix Area February Home Sales

Home sales in the Phoenix region fell on a year-over-year basis for the third month in a row during February as the foreclosure resale level dipped and the overall supply of homes on the market remained tight. The median sale price rose to its highest level in nearly four and a half years, the result of demand outstripping supply combined with the ongoing shift in the sales mix toward fewer low-cost transactions and more mid- to high-end deals, a real estate information service reported.

Buyers paid a median $175,000 for all new and resale houses and condos sold during February in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. That was up 2.9 percent from January and up 35.7 percent from February 2012. It was the median's 15th consecutive month with a year-over-year gain, according to San Diego-based DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

The February median was the highest for any month since the median was also $175,000 in October 2008, but it was still 33.7 percent below the Phoenix area's all-time peak of $264,100 in June 2006.

The big year-over-year gains in the region's median sale price since last March – ranging from 13.8 percent to 35.7 percent – reflect several trends. Prices have risen as greater demand has met a relatively low supply of homes for sale. But the median has also risen because of a large shift in the types of homes selling: More selling today are higher-cost move-up homes and fewer are lower-cost foreclosed properties.

If demand remains high and prices continue to rise, the market will eventually respond with a larger supply of homes for sale, which would tame price appreciation. More would-be sellers who've been holding out for higher prices will put their homes on the market. Fewer people will owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, enabling them to sell. Lenders could clear their backlogs of distressed properties faster. And there will be more sales of newly built homes, which in February rose 24.4 percent from a year earlier, to the highest level for a February since 2008.

The continuing decline in the number of lender-repossessed properties on the market helps explain the smaller inventory of homes for sale. Foreclosure resales, defined as homes that were foreclosed on in the prior 12 months, fell to 15.8 percent of all the homes that resold in February. That was the lowest level for any month since December 2007, when foreclosure resales were 15.3 percent of the resale market. February’s foreclosure resale level was down from 18.5 percent the month before and 34.3 percent a year earlier. At their peak in March 2009, foreclosure resales represented 66.2 percent of all the homes sold in the Phoenix area.

Last month a total of 7,710 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the two-county Phoenix region, up 16.2 percent from the month before and down 6.3 percent from a year earlier.

In the Phoenix area it's normal for sales to rise between January and February. On average since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Phoenix region statistics begin, the number of homes sold in February has been 9.8 percent higher than in January.

Total sales have fallen year-over-year the past three months, as have the number of houses and condos (excludes new homes) that have resold. However, February resales were 11.7 percent higher than average for a February. Last month's new-home sales were 52.1 percent below the February average.

Sales continued to fall hard in the Phoenix-area’s lowest price ranges last month, while the middle and upper-price categories posted big gains again. The number of new and resale homes sold in February for less than $100,000 dropped 55.0 percent from a year earlier, while sub-$150,000 sales fell 41.1 percent. Deals between $200,000 and $400,000 rose 42.8 percent year-over-year, while $300,000-plus transactions shot up 51.5 percent year-over-year. The number of homes selling for $800,000 or more rose 71.4 percent from the same month last year.

Other Phoenix region February highlights:

•A key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for existing single-family detached houses, rose to $99 in February, up from $96 in January and up 37.5 percent from a year earlier. The February figure was the highest since it was also $99 in September 2008. The median paid per square foot has risen year-over-year for 15 consecutive months, but in February it remained 42.1 percent below the $171 peak in May and June of 2006.
•Lenders foreclosed on 1,232 Phoenix-area houses and condo units last month, up 103.6 percent from the month before and down 52.1 percent from a year earlier. The number of homes lost to foreclosure during the first two months of this year totaled 5,522, down 66.7 percent from the same period last year.
•Absentee buyers, who are mainly investors and vacation-home buyers, bought 38.2 percent of all Phoenix-area homes sold last month, up from 37.3 percent the month before and down from 43.4 percent a year earlier. The peak was 47.1 percent in March 2011. February’s absentee buyers paid a median $138,000, up 34.6 percent from a year earlier.
•In February, 333 Phoenix-area buyers purchased two or more homes on the open market (excludes foreclosure auctions). That was up about 31 percent from the same month last year, based on an analysis of buyer names in the public record. (Note: In some cases individuals and partnerships buy under different names). This February these multi-home buyers purchased 1,003 homes, which amounts to about 13 percent of all homes sold and represents a 38.3 percent increase from the number of properties that multi-home buyers purchased in February last year. The largest buyer identified in February, appearing in public records as "THR Phoenix LP" and "THR Phoenix LLC," purchased 159 homes, or about 16 percent of all homes purchased by multi-home buyers in February. There were 18 buyers in February that each purchased five or more homes, but only seven of them bought 10 or more. Combined, the buyers who purchased 10 or more homes in February acquired 260 homes, or about 26 percent of all homes bought by multi-home buyers.
•Buyers paying cash bought 40.2 percent of all Phoenix-area homes sold last month. That was up from 37.2 percent the prior month and down from 45.5 percent a year earlier. The record for cash buying was 48.0 percent in February 2011. This February’s cash buyers paid a median $145,000, up 43.6 percent from a year earlier.
•Home flipping has trended higher the past year. The number of homes sold in February that had previously sold within the prior six months represented 6.7 percent of all open-market sales (excludes homes previously purchased at public foreclosure auctions). Last month's flipping rate was down from 7.1 percent the month before and up from 5.7 percent a year earlier.
•The market share for government-insured FHA home loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, was 26.9 percent of all purchase loans in February. That was down from an FHA share of 28.5 percent the month before and down from 31.6 percent a year earlier. In the current housing cycle the FHA share peaked at 55.3 percent of the purchase loan market in September 2008.

To view the home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

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

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

February California Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:00:00 +0000

California February Home Sales

March 14, 2013

An estimated 28,719 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month. That was down 0.5 percent from 28,871 in January, and down 3.1 percent from 29,630 sales in February 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Sales are generally flat from January to February. February sales in California have varied from a low of 20,513 in 2008 to a high of 48,409 in 2004. Last month's sales were 9.9 percent below the average of 31,890 sales for all the months of February since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $289,000, down 0.3 percent from $290,000 in January and up 20.9 percent from $239,000 in February 2012. February was the 12th consecutive month in which the state's median sale price rose year-over-year. In March/April/May 2007 the median peaked at $484,000, then it declined to a low of $221,000 in April 2009.

Of the existing homes sold in February, 17.5 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from a revised 19.0 percent in January and down from 33.9 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent of the resale market in February 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 22.5 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was down from an estimated 23.6 percent the month before and 26.5 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,042. That was up from $1,030 in January and up from $901 a year earlier. Last month's typical payment was 54.3 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 63.0 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 decline. Foreclosure activity remains well below peak levels reached several years ago. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, while down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

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

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright DataQuick. All rights reserved.

February Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:58:00 +0000

Bay Area Home Sales Ease Amid Tight Supply; Median Price Up Again from 2012

March 14, 2013

La Jolla, CA.--Bay Area home sales eased back a notch while prices continued their upward off-bottom bounce last month, the result of a slow rebalancing act in a market environment of constrained supply and finicky mortgage lending, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 5,404 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area in February. That was down 1.8 percent from 5,501 the month before, and down 6.1 percent from 5,753 for February a year ago, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Sales are generally flat from January to February. The average February, going back to 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin, had 6,241 sales. February sales have ranged from 3,989 in 2008 to 8,901 in 2002.

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area last month was $405,000. That was down 2.4 percent from $415,000 in January and up 24.6 percent from $325,000 for February a year ago.

The median has had a double-digit year-over-year increase the last nine months, and the past four months have seen gains above 20 percent.

“Isn’t this Economics 101? Supply and demand? If demand outstrips supply in a free market, the price goes up. The last time the number of homes sold exceeded the historical average for a given month was back in 2006. So a lot of demand has accumulated. Now, with a recovering economy, prices still closer to the bottom than to the top, with ultra-low mortgage interest rates and tight supply, the stage is set for price gains. This spring is going to be interesting,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The Bay Area's median sale price reached a high of $665,000 in June/July 2007 and then fell to a low of $290,000 in March 2009. On a year-over-year basis the median dropped more than 30 percent each month from August 2008 through May 2009.

At the median's rate of increase over the past year, it's likely that sometime this spring or summer it will have recovered about half of its loss since its peak.

At least half of February's 24.6 percent, year-over-year increase in the median sale price is the result of changes in market mix, with sales shifting away from low-cost distress homes toward more mid-market and move-up homes.

Last month the number of homes that sold for less than $500,000 decreased 14.4 percent year-over-year, while the number sold for $500,000-plus increased 27.7 percent, DataQuick reported.

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up about 35.0 percent of the resale market. That was down from 36.0 percent in January and down from 53.4 percent a year ago.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 13.6 percent of resales in February, down from a revised 14.1 percent in January, and down from 26.4 percent a year ago. Last month was the lowest since 10.1 percent in November 2007. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 17 years is about 10 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 21.4 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was down from an estimated 21.9 percent in January and down from 27.0 percent a year earlier.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 37.5 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from a revised 35.8 percent in January, and up from 27.2 percent a year ago. Jumbo usage dropped as low as 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.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), an important indicator of mortgage availability, accounted for 11.1 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans. That was up from a revised 10.9 percent in January, and down from 12.1 percent in February last year. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 48.5 percent of all purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 15.3 percent of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in February, up from 15.0 percent in January and down from 22.9 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA level has the been the lowest since summer 2008, reflecting both tougher qualifying standards and the difficulties first-time buyers have competing with investors and other cash buyers.

The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 15.0 percent of the market, Stearns Lending with 4.0 percent, and RPM Mortgage with 3.7 percent.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 28.2 percent of all Bay Area homes, an all-time high (absentee statistics go back to January 2000). Last month's absentee level was up from a revised 26.7 percent in January, and up from 25.6 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $290,000 in February, up 18.4 percent from $245,000 a year earlier.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no sign of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for a record 31.9 percent of sales in February. That was up from 28.4 percent the month before and 31.5 percent a year earlier. The monthly average going back to 1988 is 12.9 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $303,000 in February, up 23.7 percent from $245,000 a year earlier.

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 Francisco counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,460. That was down from $1,479 in January, and up from $1,243 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 48.1 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 61.6 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity is well below peak levels reached in the last few years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the county-by-county chart, visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

February SoCal Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:39:00 +0000

Southland Begins 2013 With Sales and Price Gains Vs. Year Earlier

March 13, 2013

La Jolla, CA---Southern California logged the highest February home sales in six years last month amid relatively strong sales of mid- to high-end properties and a record share of homes sold to absentee buyers. The median sale price edged slightly lower from January but rose nearly 21 percent from a year earlier, marking the 11th straight month in which the median has risen year-over-year, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 15,945 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 0.7 percent from 16,058 sales in January, and up 1.0 percent from 15,780 sales in February 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Typically there's not much change in the number of sales between January and February. On average, sales have risen 0.7 percent between those two months since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

Last month’s sales were the highest for the month of February since 17,680 homes sold in February 2007, but they were 9.9 percent below the February average of 17,696 sales. The low for February sales was 10,777 in 2008, while the high was 26,587 in 2004.

“Our January and February stats certainly indicate housing remains a big target for investors. But typically those two months don't offer much insight into how the market will behave the rest of the year. These are sales that closed in January and February, meaning many of the buyers were out home shopping during the holiday season late last year. That's when many traditional buyers and sellers drop out of the market, leaving a relatively high concentration of very motivated market participants, especially investors,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“March and April will offer a better view of how broader market trends are shaping up this year. One of the real wild cards will be how many more homes go up for sale. More people who've long been thinking of selling will be tempted to list their homes at today's higher prices. Fewer people will be underwater and therefore could at least break even on a sale. Some investors who've held for a while will consider cashing in. A meaningful rise in the supply of homes on the market should at least tame price appreciation.”

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the six-county Southland was $320,000 last month, down 0.3 percent from $321,000 in January and up 20.9 percent from $264,750 in February 2012. The median has eased back slightly on a month-to-month basis since December's $323,000 median, which was the highest since it was $330,000 in August 2008. The median's year-over-year gains have been double-digit – between 10.8 percent and 23.5 percent – since last August.

“Most every gauge shows prices are up significantly over the past year, even after adjusting for changes in the types of homes selling, ” Walsh said. “But to keep today's price levels in context, consider that last month's median sale price was still around 37 percent below its early 2007 peak of $505,000, and it was about where the median was back in mid 2003.”

Around half of the median's ups and downs the last five years can be attributed to shifts in the types of homes sold. Last month's 20.9 percent year-over-year gain in the Southland median sale price reflects the combination of price appreciation as well as a shift toward more mid- to high-end sales in coastal markets and fewer sales, especially foreclosed properties, in inland areas.

Looking at a single sub-category to help adjust for this change in market mix: The median price paid for a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1,250-to-1,450-square-foot house built between 1950 and 1985 was $316,500 last month. That was down 0.2 percent from $317,000 in January, and up 13.4 percent from $279,000 in February 2012.

Move-up markets continued to show big sales gains from a year earlier. The number of homes sold in February for between $300,000 and $800,000 – a range that would include many first-time move-up buyers – rose 33.4 percent year-over-year. The number that sold for $500,000 or more jumped 54.0 percent from one year earlier, while sales of $800,000-plus homes increased 62.7 percent compared with February 2012.

Last month, 24.9 percent of all Southland home sales were for $500,000 or more, compared with a revised 22.2 percent in January and 17.4 percent in February 2012.

Sales continued to fall on a year-over-year basis in many lower-cost communities. The number of homes that sold below $200,000 in February fell 26.7 percent year-over-year, while sales below $300,000 dipped 15.4 percent. Sales in many affordable markets have been limited not by a lack of demand, but by a lack of inventory, caused largely by the slowdown in foreclosures and the relatively high percentage of owners who can’t afford to move because they owe more than their homes are worth.

Last month foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 15.8 percent of the Southland resale market. That was down from a revised 17.2 percent the month before and down from 32.6 percent a year earlier. In recent months foreclosure resales have been at the lowest level since September 2007. In the current cycle, foreclosure resales 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 22.0 percent of Southland resales last month. That was down from an estimated 24.0 percent the month before and 26.9 percent a year earlier.

Investor and cash buying was at or near all-time highs.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought a record 31.4 percent of the Southland homes sold in February. That was up from 30.4 percent the prior month and up from 29.9 percent a year earlier. The monthly average since 2000, when the absentee data begin, is 17.9 percent. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $250,000, up 26.3 percent from a year earlier.

The share of homes that were flipped has risen, too: 6.9 percent of all homes sold on the open market last month had previously sold in the prior six months, up from a flipping rate of 6.6 percent in January and 3.7 percent in February 2012. (The figures exclude homes that were resold after being purchased at public foreclosure auction sales on the courthouse steps.)

Buyers paying with cash accounted for 35.6 percent of last month's home sales, compared with 33.7 percent both the month before and a year earlier. The peak was 35.8 percent last December. Since 1988 the monthly average is 15.9 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $260,000 last month, up 23.8 percent from a year ago.

Credit conditions don't appear to have changed much so far this year.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 21.0 percent of last month’s Southland purchase lending, up from 19.3 percent the prior month and 14.4 percent a year earlier. In the months leading up to the credit crunch that struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for around 40 percent of the home loan market.

With fixed rates on 30-year loans so low, and aversion to risk in the marketplace high, the use of adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) remains very low in an historical context. Last month 5.6 percent of Southland home purchase loans were ARMs, the same as the prior month and down slightly from 5.8 percent a year earlier. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 33 percent of Southland purchase loans were ARMs.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 25.0 percent of all purchase mortgages last month. That was about the same as 25.1 percent the month before and down from 30.9 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA share has been the lowest since summer 2008. The decline reflects tighter FHA qualifying standards implemented in recent years as well as the difficulties first-time buyers are having competing with investors.

The most active lenders to Southern California home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 8.7 percent of the market, Prospect Mortgage with 2.7 percent, and JP Morgan Chase with 2.5 percent. Bank of America, which had 2.2 percent of the Southern California market last month, recently announced that it was gearing up for a “new run” at the mortgage market. The bank had around 8 percent of the Southland market two years ago.

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 $1,154, up from a $1,140 the month before and up from $998 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 51.1 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 60.0 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains far below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the county-by-county chart, visit DQNews.com.

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

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

January Seattle Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:54:00 +0000

Seattle Region January Home Sales

Seattle-area home sales hit a six-year high for the month of January, rising above a year earlier for the 19th consecutive month. The median sale price fell from December, as it normally does, but increased year-over-year for the 10th consecutive month, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 3,102 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during January in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area encompassing King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. January's total sales fell 26.0 percent from the month before and increased 25.1 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A dip in sales between December and January is normal, with that decline averaging 25.6 percent since 1994, when DataQuick's complete Seattle-area statistics begin.

The number of homes sold this January was the highest for that month since January 2007, when 4,223 homes sold. This January's sales total was still 6.7 percent below the average number of homes sold during all months of January since 1994. Resale single-family house sales were 9.2 percent below the historical average for January, while condo resales were 28.4 percent above average and sales of newly built homes were 20.4 percent below average.

The Seattle-area resale market - existing single-family houses and condos combined - posted a 19.4 percent increase in sales compared with a year earlier, while sales of newly built homes logged a 63.7 percent increase. January sales of new Seattle-area houses and condos combined were the highest for that month in five years.

The year-over-year increase in total January sales was driven by big gains for sales above $200,000, while the number of homes that sold for less than $200,000 rose just 1.0 percent year-over-year and sub-$150,000 sales fell 12.2 percent. Sales of homes priced above $200,000 rose 42.6 percent year-over-year, while $300,000-plus sales rose 50.5 percent. The number of homes that sold in January between $200,000 and $600,000, a typical move-up range, rose 24.3 percent from a year earlier. Sales over $700,000 rose 41.4 percent year-over-year, though sales in that price category represented a relatively small portion (6.4 percent) of total sales.

In January, 13 homes sold for $2 million or more in the three-county region, down from 24 in December but up 160.0 percent from five $2 million-plus sales in January 2012. During the six months ending in January this year, multi-million-dollar homes sales rose 32.5 percent from the same six-month period one year earlier. The figures are based on public property records, where either a sale price or loan amount indicating a $2 million-plus sale was available.

Across all price ranges in January, buyers paid a median $267,750 for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the three-county Seattle area. That was down 7.4 percent from the prior month and up 11.6 percent from a year earlier. The median price has risen on a year-over-year basis each month since April 2012, following 20 consecutive months of year-over-year declines.

January's median was 26.7 percent lower than the Seattle area's peak $365,200 median in June 2007, and it was 11.6 percent higher than the post-peak trough of $238,000 in January 2012.

Another key price measure, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, was $154 in January, down 3.9 percent from the month before and up 10.5 percent from a year earlier. The January figure was 35.8 percent lower than the peak $239 median paid per square foot in June 2007.

Distressed property sales - foreclosure resales and "short sales" combined - represented roughly 40.0 percent of the Seattle area's resale market in January, down from about 53 percent a year earlier.

Foreclosure resales - properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - represented 14.7 percent of the resale market in January. That was up from 12.2 percent the prior month and down from 32.5 percent a year earlier.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 25.0 percent of the Seattle-area's January resales. That was up from an estimated 24.2 percent the month before and 20.6 percent a year earlier.

In January, lenders foreclosed on 908 single-family houses and condo units in the Seattle region, down 3.5 percent from the prior month and up 51.1 percent from a year earlier. The foreclosure figures are based on the number of Trustees Deeds filed with county recorder offices. The steep year-over-year gain in foreclosures likely reflects lenders playing catch-up after a lull in foreclosure activity following the July 2011 passage of a new state foreclosure law. The law allows many borrowers in distress to request "foreclosure mediation," where a mediator helps the homeowner and lender try to negotiate an agreement to avoid foreclosure, such as with a loan modification.

Absentee buyers - mainly investors - accounted for 21.9 percent of the Seattle area's January home sales, up from 19.9 percent a year earlier and up from a decade-long monthly average of 16.7 percent. Absentee buyers paid a median $211,000 in January, up 24.2 percent from a year earlier. While many of these buyers are investors, they can include second-home buyers and others who indicated at the time of sale that the property tax bill would be sent to a different address.

Many investors are among the cash buyers, who accounted for 23.4 percent of January home sales, up from 21.7 percent a year earlier. Cash buyers paid a median $211,500 in January, up 21.6 percent year-over-year.

In January, 21.2 percent of Seattle-area purchase mortgages were government-insured FHA loans, a popular, low-down-payment choice among first-time home buyers. That was down from an FHA share of 26.2 percent a year earlier. The FHA share of the purchase loan market has been in the 19 percent to 22 percent range for the past nine months, well below the region's peak FHA level for the current housing cycle, which was 39.9 percent of all homes loans in October 2009.

To view the Seattle January home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

January Miami Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:06:00 +0000

Miami Region January Home Sales

March 1, 2013

The Miami-area's housing market posted the highest January home sales in six years and the sharpest year-over-year increase in its median sale price since October 2005, a real estate information service reported.

In January, 9,414 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. January sales fell 4.9 percent from the prior month and rose 24.9 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A drop in sales between December and January is normal for the season, with the change between those two months averaging a decline of 15.9 percent since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area statistics begin. The region's home sales have risen year-over-year for nine consecutive months.

This January's total sales were in line with the average number of January sales (9,409) since 1997. However, the number of existing (not new) houses and condos that closed escrow in January was 17.0 percent above the historical average for the month of January, and condo resales, specifically, were 39.9 percent above the January average. New-home sales fell 67.1 percent short of the January average.

When viewed by price segment, the Miami area's January sales dropped 2.5 percent year-over-year for homes priced below $100,000, and rose 10.1 percent for homes below $200,000. The number of homes sold between $200,000 and $600,000 jumped 46.4 percent year-over-year in January, while the number of homes that sold above $800,000 rose 11.5 percent from the same month last year.

In the Miami region's multi-million-dollar luxury market, 75 homes sold for $2 million or more in January, down 51.0 percent from the month before and up 33.9 percent from one year earlier. Luxury sales can vacillate month-to-month, and a relatively sharp December-to-January sales drop is not unusual. In the six months ending this January, $2 million-plus sales rose 45.4 percent from the same six-month period a year earlier. 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 January was $157,000. That was down 1.3 percent from December and up 20.8 percent from a year earlier. That median's year-over-year gain in January is the highest for any month since October 2005, when the $256,900 median at that time rose 21.0 percent from a year earlier.

This January's median was 30.8 percent higher than the current housing cycle's post-peak trough of $120,000 in January and February of 2011, but it was 45.9 percent lower than the Miami area's peak $290,000 median in June 2007.

The region's resale condo median rose 22.2 percent year-over-year in January, marking the 16th consecutive month in which that price measure has posted an annual gain. The median price paid for resale single-family detached houses rose 15.9 percent in January compared with a year earlier, marking the 12th consecutive month with a year-over-year gain.

The median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses rose to $109 in January, up 16.0 percent from a year earlier. The figure has risen year-over-year for 13 consecutive months. January's level was 43.3 percent below the May/June 2006 peak of $192 per square foot.

The region's median price paid per square foot for resale condos was $98 in January, up 18.1 percent from a year earlier. It was the 16th consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. January's median paid per square foot for resale condos was 53.6 percent below the April 2006 peak of $211.

Other Miami region January highlights:

•Absentee buyers purchased 43.2 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in January, up from 42.0 percent the month before and up from 39.9 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers paid a median $122,000 for all new and resale houses and condos that they purchased in January, up 23.2 percent from a year earlier. Absentee buyers are investors, second-home buyers and others who indicate at the time of sale that the property tax bill will be sent to a different address.
•Buyers who had a foreign mailing addresses in the public record accounted for 4.3 percent of all Miami-area homes bought in January, and 8.1 percent of the region's existing condo sales. About 55 percent of the identified foreign buyers bought in Broward County, while about 30 percent bought in Palm Beach County and 15 percent in Miami-Dade. (Note: Not all foreign buyers use a foreign mailing address, hence cannot be tracked with public records.)
•Cash buyers purchased 64.3 percent of the Miami-area homes sold in January. That was down a tad from 64.5 percent the month before and 64.4 percent a year earlier. The peak was 68.7 percent in February 2012. January's cash buyers paid a median $120,000, up 26.3 percent from 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.
•Use of a form of low-down-payment financing popular with first-time homebuyers - government-insured FHA loans = rose to 32.0 percent of all home purchase loans in January, up from 28.0 percent in December and down from 39.6 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA share of the purchase loan market has dropped to the lowest level since fall 2008. The decline reflects tighter FHA qualifying standards implemented in recent years as well as the difficulties first-time buyers are having competing with investors in the housing market.

To view the county home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

January Las Vegas Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:59:00 +0000

Las Vegas Region January Home Sales

Las Vegas-area home sales fell short of a year earlier for the eighth consecutive month in January amid a tight supply of homes for sale and far fewer foreclosure resales. The combination of demand outweighing supply and a shift in market mix pushed the median sale price up at its fastest year-over-year clip – 31.8 percent – in nearly eight years, a real estate information service reported.

In January, 3,619 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was down 19.2 percent from the month before and down 10.5 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A drop in sales between December and January is normal for the season, with the change between those two months averaging a decline of 23.5 percent since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas area statistics begin.

Last month's total sales were the lowest for the month of January in three years and were 2.7 percent below the average number of homes sold during all months of January since 1994. However, if newly built homes are excluded, last month’s sales were above average. Resales of houses and condos combined were 21.8 percent higher than average for the month of January, while sales of newly built homes were 50.3 percent below average for the month. Although new-home sales remain low in an historical context, they’ve been rising in recent months, increasing 69.5 percent in January compared with a year earlier. Last month’s new-home sales were the highest for a January in five years.

In the overall market in January, sales of mid- to high-cost homes continued to jump compared with year-ago levels, while the number of low-end deals fell sharply.

Sales of homes priced below $100,000 delcined 47.2 percent in January compared with a year earlier. The number of transactions below $200,000 fell 23.5 percent year-over-year. January sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – jumped 53.3 percent from a year earlier, while the number sold over $500,000 rose 76.9 percent. (Sales from $200,000 to $500,000 accounted for 25.9 percent of all sales, while the $500,000-plus market made up about 2.6 percent of all sales).

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in January was $145,000, down 0.1 percent from $145,106 the prior month and up 31.8 percent from a year earlier. The median has risen year-over-year for 10 consecutive months. The previous annual gains were 26.2 percent in December, 23.9 percent in November, 19.2 percent in October, 19.1 percent in September, 18.2 percent in August, 12.1 percent in July, 8.7 percent in June, 4.3 percent in May, and 1.7 percent in April. Prior to April last year, the Las Vegas region median price fell year-over-year for 18 consecutive months.

The last time the year-over-year increase in the Las Vegas-area median sale price exceeded last month’s 31.8 percent was in February 2005, when the region’s $269,289 median jumped 34.6 percent compared with a year earlier.

Recent sharp gains in the median sale price reflect price appreciation triggered by strong demand meeting a relatively low supply of homes for sale, as well as a change in the market mix: Fewer of the homes re-selling now are lower-cost foreclosed properties, and more are mid-to high-end homes. Included in the latter group are newly built homes, which on average are more expensive than resale homes. In January, new homes accounted for 17.3 percent of total sales, up from 9.2 percent of sales a year earlier.

Despite its large year-over-year increase, January's median sale price was 53.5 percent below its November 2006 peak of $312,000. The median has been rising off a cyclical low point of $110,000 in January 2012, which was the lowest level since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994.

An alternative home-price gauge – the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – rose to $80 in January. That was up 2.6 percent from December and up 25.0 percent from a year earlier, marking the eighth consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. (The $64 median per square foot paid in January 2012 was the lowest for any month since at least 1994.) Last month’s median paid per square foot was 57.9 percent lower than the peak $190 paid per square foot in May and June 2006.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 14.9 percent of Las Vegas resale activity in January. That was up from 11.7 percent the month before and down from 52.6 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – accounted for an estimated 34.9 percent of the Las Vegas-area resale market in January. That compares with an estimated 43.6 percent the prior month and 27.5 percent a year earlier. The estimated short sale level has exceeded the foreclosure resale level for the past eight months.

In the wake of an October 2011 Nevada law that created additional requirements for lenders trying to foreclose on properties, the number of notices of default (“NODs”) filed in Clark County plummeted. However, in recent months NODs have trended higher compared with a year earlier. In January, lenders filed NODs on 2,020 single-family houses and condo units, up 18.1 percent from the prior month and up 92.7 percent from a year earlier. The notice of default is the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

In January, lenders foreclosed on 817 single-family house and condo units in the Las Vegas region, up 17.0 percent from the month before and down 57.7 percent from a year earlier.

Many of these distressed homes are purchased by investors, who continue to account for a near-record share of all sales.

Absentee buyers – mainly investors and vacation-home buyers – purchased 50.2 percent of all homes sold in the Las Vegas area in January. That was down a tad from 50.6 percent the month before and up from 49.1 percent a year earlier. The peak was 51.2 percent in March 2012. Absentee buyers paid a median $122,500 in January, up 36.1 percent from $90,000 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.

In January, 123 Las Vegas-area buyers purchased two or more homes on the open market (excludes foreclosure auctions). That was down from 131 multi-home buyers during January 2012, based on an analysis of buyer names in the public record. (Note: In some cases individuals and partnerships buy under different names). In January, multi-home buyers purchased 441 homes in the Las Vegas area, which amounts to 12.2 percent of all homes sold and represents a 21.2 percent increase from the number of properties that multi-home buyers purchased in January 2012. There were 34 buyers in January 2013 that each purchased three or more homes, but only six bought 10 or more. Combined, the six buyers who purchased 10 or more homes in January 2013 acquired 170 homes, or about 38.5 percent of all homes bought by multi-home buyers. In January 2012, three purchasers bought 10 or more homes, buying a total of 50 properties.

Cash buyers purchased 53.2 percent of the Las Vegas-area homes that sold in January. That was up from a cash-buyer share of 52.8 percent of total sales the month before and down a hair from 53.7 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. Cash buyers paid a median $120,000 in January, up 50.0 percent from $81,000 a year earlier.

To view the January Las Vegas home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

January California Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:18:00 +0000

California January Home Sales

February 14, 2013

An estimated 28,871 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month. That was down 27.4 percent from 39,760 in December, and up 2.7 percent from 28,111 sales in January 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

A sales decline from December to January is normal for the season. January sales in California have varied from a low of 19,145 in 2008 to a high of 47,138 in 2004. Last month's sales were 8.7 percent below the average of 31,607 sales for all months of January since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $290,000, down 3.0 percent from $299,000 in December and up 22.9 percent from $236,000 in January 2012. January marked the 11th consecutive month in which the state's median sale price rose year-over-year. Last month's gain was the highest since January 2005, when the median at that time, $399,500, also rose 22.9 percent year-over-year. In March/April/May 2007 the median peaked at $484,000, then it declined to a low of $221,000 in April 2009.

Of the existing homes sold in January, 18.7 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was up from a revised 15.8 percent in December and down from 34.3 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent in February 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 26.1 percent of the homes that resold statewide last month. That was down from an estimated 26.4 percent the month before and 27.0 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,030. That was down from $1,054 in December and up from $906 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, the year-ago payment was the lowest in DataQuick's records. Last month's typical payment was 54.7 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 63.2 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 decline. Foreclosure activity has been trending lower and remains well below peak levels reached several years ago. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, while down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

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

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright DataQuick. All rights reserved.

January Bay Area Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:03:00 +0000

Bay Area Housing Market Continues Off—Bottom Bounce

February 14, 2013

La Jolla, CA.--Turnaround trends continued apace in the Bay Area housing market last month with the strongest January sales in six years and the tenth straight year-over-year increase in the median sale price, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 5,501 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was down 28.4 percent from 7,688 in December, and up 3.2 percent from 5,330 for January a year ago, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Sales always drop from December to January. While still below the long-term January average of 6,094, last month’s sales count was the strongest since 6,168 homes were sold in 2007. The strongest January in DataQuick’s records, which go back to 1988, was in 2005 when 8,298 homes sold. The slowest sales were in 2008, when 3,586 sold.

“When we look carefully at underlying trends, it’s obvious that the market is still far from normal. The mortgage market is still dysfunctional. Relative sales rates between categories are lopsided. That said, the market imbalances are moving toward normalcy, with baby steps,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area was $415,000 in January. That was down 6.3 percent from $442,750 in December, and up 27.3 percent from $326,000 in January a year ago.

A drop in the median sale price from December to January is normal for the season. At least half of the year-over-year increase in the January median is the result of changes in market mix, with sales shifting away from low-cost distress homes toward more mid-market and move-up homes.

The median reached a high of $665,000 in June/July 2007 and then fell to a low of $290,000 in March 2009. On a year-over-year basis, the median dropped more than 30 percent each month from August 2008 through May 2009. At the median's current rate of increase, it will recover about half of its peak-to-trough loss sometime this spring.

The number of homes sold for less than $500,000 last month fell 17.9 percent year-over-year, while the number sold for more than $500,000 increased 45.4 percent, DataQuick reported.

Last month distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – made up 37.7 percent of the resale market. That was up from 35.3 percent in December and down from 55.6 percent a year ago.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 14.4 percent of resales in January, up from a revised 12.1 percent in December, and down from 27.2 percent a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 17 years is about 10 percent.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 23.3 percent of Bay Area resales last month. That was up from an estimated 23.2 percent in December and down from 28.1 percent a year earlier.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 38.0 percent of last month’s purchase lending, down from a revised 40.3 percent in December, and up from 23.6 percent a year ago. Jumbo usage dropped to a low of 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.

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), an important indicator of mortgage availability, accounted for 11.4 percent of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans. That was up from 11.1 percent in December, and down from 11.7 percent in January last year. Since 2000, ARMs have accounted for 48.6 percent of all purchase loans. ARMs hit a low of 3.0 percent of loans in January 2009.

Government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 15.5 percent of all Bay Area purchase mortgages in January, down from 18.9 percent in December and down from 23.6 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA level has the been the lowest since summer 2008, reflecting both tougher qualifying standards and the difficulties first-time buyers have competing with investors and other cash buyers.

The most active lenders to Bay Area home buyers last month were Wells Fargo with 13.4 percent of the market, Stearns Lending with 3.9 percent, and RPM Mortgage with 3.6 percent. Bank of America, which had 2.9 percent of the Bay Area market last month, recently announced that it was gearing up for a “new run” at the mortgage market. The bank had around 10 percent of the Bay Area market two years ago.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 26.7 percent of all Bay Area homes, an all-time high (absentee statistics go back to January 2000). Last month's absentee level was up from a revised 26.0 percent in December, and up from 25.2 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $300,000 in January, up 33.3 percent from $225,000 a year earlier.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no sign of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 28.5 percent of sales in January. That was down from 29.8 percent in both December and January 2012. The monthly average going back to 1988 is 12.9 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $300,000 in January, up 33.3 percent from $225,000 a year earlier.

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, San Mateo and San Francisco counties. Statistics for those three counties have been revised for 2011 and 2012.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,474. That was down from $1,561 in December, and up from $1,233 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 47.4 percent below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 61.1 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity has been trending lower and remains well below peak levels reached several years ago. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, while down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To see the county-level chart, please visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick, www.DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

January Southland Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:47:00 +0000

Southland Begins 2013 With Sales and Price Gains Vs. Year Earlier

February 13, 2013

La Jolla, CA---Southern California's housing market started 2013 with the highest January home sales in six years as sales to investors and cash buyers hovered near record levels and move-up activity remained relatively brisk. The median price paid for a Southland home dipped slightly from December, as it normally does, but jumped 23.5 percent above the year-ago level, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 16,058 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was down 20.8 percent from 20,274 sales in December, and up 10.6 percent from 14,523 sales in January 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

A drop in sales from December to January is normal for the season, and on average sales have fallen 27.8 percent between those two months since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. Last month’s sales were the highest for the month of January since 18,128 homes sold in January 2007, though they were 8.8 percent below the January average of 17,609 sales. The low for January sales was 9,983 in 2008, while the high was 26,083 in 2004.

The median price paid for a home in the six-county Southland was $321,000 last month, down 0.6 percent from $323,000 in December and up 23.5 percent from $260,000 in January 2012. The December 2012 median was the highest for any month since the median was $330,000 in August 2008. The Southland median has increased year-over-year for ten consecutive months.

“This fledgling housing recovery has momentum. Already, price hikes have caused some to question whether it's sustainable, whether it's a 'bubble.' Let's not forget, though, that we're still climbing out of a deep hole from the housing downturn. Regional home sales remain sub-par and prices in many areas are at least 30 to 40 percent below their peaks. That's not to say we don't see risks. Sharp price gains can attract speculation, which could lead to unsustainable, short-term gains in certain submarkets. A lot of today's housing demand is fueled not by spectacular job growth and soaring consumer confidence, but by super-low mortgage rates and unusually high levels of investor and cash purchases. Take away any one of those elements and it will matter,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“For the overall market, price pressures should gradually ease as more homeowners react to rising values. This is the 'supply response' many analysts expect. The idea is that many who've held out for higher prices will be tempted to stick a for-sale sign in the front yard. Fewer will owe more than their homes are worth, enabling them to sell. Construction is already rising, and we could see lenders clear backlogs of distressed properties faster, adding to the supply.”

Roughly half of the median sale price's ups and downs the last five years has been the result of shifts in the types of homes sold. When looking at one single sub-category, the median price paid for a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1,250-to-1,450-square-foot house built between 1950 and 1985 was $315,000 last month, up 1.9 percent from $309,000 in December, and up 13.7 percent from $277,000 a year ago.

The move-up market continued to post sizeable sales gains last month. January sales between $300,000 and $800,000 – a range that would include many first-time move-up buyers – shot up 49.6 percent year-over-year. Sales over $500,000 jumped 74.0 percent from one year earlier, while sales over $800,000 rose 84.2 percent compared with January 2012.

Last month 24.7 percent of all Southland home sales were for $500,000 or more, compared with 26.1 percent in December (the highest level since July 2008), and 16.4 percent in January 2012.

Sales continued to fall on a year-over-year basis in many lower-cost communities. The number of homes that sold below $200,000 fell 23.5 percent year-over-year, while sales below $300,000 dipped 12.2 percent. Sales in many affordable markets have been limited by the lack of inventory, caused largely by the slowdown in foreclosures and the relatively high percentage of owners who can’t afford to move because they owe more than their homes are worth.

Last month foreclosure resales – properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 15.0 percent of the Southland resale market. That was up slightly from 14.2 percent the month before and down from 32.6 percent a year earlier. In recent months foreclosure resales have been at the lowest level since September 2007. In the current cycle, foreclosure resales 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 25.9 percent of Southland resales last month. That was down from an estimated 26.5 percent the month before and 27.2 percent a year earlier.

Once again investor and cash buying was at or near record levels.

Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought a record 30.7 percent of the Southland homes sold in January. That was up from a revised 30.4 percent the prior month and 28.0 percent a year earlier. The monthly average since 2000 is 17.8 percent. Last month’s absentee buyers paid a median $260,000, up 33.3 percent from a year earlier.

Buyers paying with cash accounted for 34.9 percent of last month's home sales, compared with a record 35.7 percent the month before and 32.2 percent a year earlier. Since 1988 the monthly average is 15.8 percent. Cash buyers paid a median $268,000 last month, up 34.0 percent from a year ago.

Meantime, credit conditions appeared to have changed little.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 21.6 percent of last month’s Southland purchase lending, down from 22.8 percent the prior month and up from 13.6 percent a year earlier. The December 2012 figure was the highest for any month since September 2007, when jumbos made up 26.9 percent of the purchase loan market. In the months leading up to the credit crunch that struck in August 2007, jumbos made up close to 40 percent of the market.

With fixed rates on 30-year loans so low, and aversion to risk in the marketplace high, the use of adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) remains very low in an historical context. Last month 5.8 percent of Southland home purchase loans were ARMs, compared with 6.2 percent the prior month and 6.0 percent a year earlier. Since 2000, a monthly average of about 33 percent of Southland purchase loans were ARMs.

Government-insured FHA loans, a popular low-down-payment choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 23.5 percent of all purchase mortgages last month. That was up from 23.2 percent the month before and down from 31.1 percent a year earlier. In recent months the FHA share has been the lowest since summer 2008. The decline reflects tighter FHA qualifying standards implemented in recent years as well as the difficulties first-time buyers are having competing with investors in the housing market.

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 $1,140, up a hair from a revised $1,139 the month before and up from $983 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s typical payment was 51.6 percent below the typical payment in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 60.3 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity, while above long-term averages, continues to drop and is far below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

To view the county level chart, visit DQNews.com.

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

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

2012 California Cash Home Sales Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:13:00 +0000

Record Number of California Homes Bought with Cash

February 6, 2013

The number of California homes purchased with cash reached an all-time high last year, the result of high investor interest, a difficult mortgage environment, and perceived higher returns on investment, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 145,797 condos and houses were bought without mortgage financing in 2012, a record. That was up from 125,812 in 2011, the previous high. In 2007, as the housing market deflated, cash sales totaled 39,731, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

"It's clear that a lot of today's housing market recovery is being fueled by people putting their own money into homes. Some cash buying is part of a normal housing market, but we're at twice that normal rate. There are always some rich people, also buyers from abroad, but in a normal market the biggest single category would be retirees and empty-nesters who are down-sizing. Today, a lot of buyers are chasing what they view as the deal of a lifetime," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Cash purchases accounted for a record 32.4 percent of California's overall home sales last year, up from 30.4 percent in 2011 and more than double the annual average of 15.6 percent since 1991, when DataQuick's cash statistics begin.

"I'm sure a lot of today's cash buyers would love to take advantage of the current low mortgage interest rates, but since the 'loans-gone-wild' days of 2004-2006, the lending pendulum has swung to the opposite end of the spectrum. Even a lot of well-qualified buyers can't get loans. While the market overall is improving, sales levels are still below average, and prices much closer to the bottom than to the peak," he said.

Last year a total of 447,573 homes were sold in California to all buyers, whether they used a loan or cash. While up from the cyclical low of 383,748 sales in 2007, last year's total was well below the peak of 775,831 sales in 2004, and it was about 13 percent below the state's average annual home sales since 1988.

The median price paid for a California home, whether financed or bought with cash, was $275,000 in 2012, up 10.0 percent from $250,000 in 2011. The annual median peaked at $469,500 in 2006, and bottomed out at $245,000 in 2009. Around half of the median's peak-to-trough drop can be attributed to shifts in market mix.

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

Cash buyers paid a median $205,000 last year, up 17.1 percent from $175,000 in 2011. Buyers who financed with a mortgage paid a median $305,000 in 2012, up 10.5 percent from $276,000 a year earlier, DataQuick reported.

Last year more all-cash deals occurred above the $500,000 threshold, and fewer below $100,000. Cash-only purchases of $500,000 or more rose 35.0 percent compared with 2011. That compares with an 11.2 percent decline in the number of homes cash buyers purchased below $100,000.

Some buyers in the mid- to high-priced markets used cash either because they couldn't qualify for a loan or wanted to better their chances of prevailing in bidding situations. It's likely that in the sub-$100,000 market cash-paying investors simply couldn't find enough homes for sale in that price range. Inventory in affordable neighborhoods has generally been low because foreclosures have slowed, meaning less supply, and many people in these areas still owe more than their homes are worth, hence they can't sell.

Investors and vacation-home buyers bought roughly 55 percent of all homes purchased with cash last year. Multi-home buyers, meaning those purchasing two or more properties, accounted for about 28 percent of last year's cash sales, up from around 24 percent in 2011, according to an analysis of buyer names in the public record.

Last year more than 11,700 cash-paying, multi-home buyers collectively purchased about 41,450 homes. Compared with 2011, that marked a nearly 19 percent increase in the number of multi-home buyers and a roughly 36 percent jump in the number of homes they bought. In 2012, individual investors or partnerships paying cash bought as many as 1,300 homes, although the vast majority (88 percent) of these multi-home cash buyers bought fewer than five, and 65 percent bought two.

While cash purchases are up in all areas, there are regional differences. For example, in San Mateo County 24.2 percent of the purchases were cash, while in Merced County it was 42.9 percent.

Among the California zip codes with at least 100 sales last year, the two with the highest cash purchase rate were in Orange County's Laguna Woods 92637, with 74.0 percent of the homes sold going to cash buyers, and Riverside County's Indian Wells 92210, with 71.6 percent.

To see the county-by-county cash percentages, visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2013 DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.

December Las Vegas Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:09:00 +0000

Las Vegas Region December Home Sales

Las Vegas-area home sales fell on a year-over-year basis for the seventh consecutive month in December as buyers struggled with a tight inventory of homes for sale and foreclosure resales continued to dwindle. The median sale price -- boosted by both price appreciation and the market's shift toward more mid- to high-end transactions -- rose to the highest level in nearly four years, a real estate information service reported.

In December, 4,476 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 8.0 percent from the month before and down 7.6 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

The region's sales typically rise between November and December, with that gain averaging 12.3 percent since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas area statistics begin.

December's total sales were the lowest for that month in four years and were 8.4 percent below the average number of homes sold during all months of December since 1994. However, if newly built homes are excluded, sales were above average. Resales of houses and condos combined were 23.1 percent higher than average for the month of December, while sales of newly built homes were 59.4 percent below average for the month. Although new-home sales remain low in an historical context, they’ve been rising in recent months, increasing 41.5 percent in December compared with a year earlier. December’s new-home sales were the highest for a December in five years.

In the overall market in December, sales of mid- to high-cost homes continued to jump compared with year-ago levels, while the number of low-end deals fell sharply.

Sales of homes priced below $100,000 fell 44.5 percent in December compared with a year earlier. Transactions below $200,000 declined 18.5 percent year-over-year. December sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – jumped 40.0 percent from a year earlier, while sales over $500,000 rose 37.1 percent. (Sales from $200,000 to $500,000 accounted for 26.4 percent of all activity, while the $500,000-plus market made up about 2.2 percent of all sales).

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in December was $145,203, which is the highest since the median was $152,500 in February 2009. The December median was up 1.9 percent from November and up 26.3 percent from a year earlier. The median has risen year-over-year for nine consecutive months. The previous annual gains were 23.9 percent in November, 19.2 percent in October, 19.1 percent in September, 18.2 percent in August, 12.1 percent in July, 8.7 percent in June, 4.3 percent in May, and 1.7 percent in April. Prior to April last year, the Las Vegas region median price fell year-over-year for 18 consecutive months.

The recent sharp gains in the median sale price reflect price appreciation triggered by strong demand meeting a relatively low supply of homes for sale, as well as a change in the market mix: Fewer of the homes re-selling are lower-cost foreclosed properties, and more are mid-to high-end homes. Included in the latter is the increase in sales of newly built homes, which on average are more expensive than resale homes. In December, new homes accounted for 16.9 percent of total sales, up from 11.0 percent of sales a year earlier.

The December median sale price was 53.5 percent below the median’s November 2006 peak of $312,000. The median has been rising off a cyclical low point of $110,000 in January 2012, which was the lowest level since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994.

An alternative home-price gauge – the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – rose to $78 in December. That was up 2.6 percent from November and up 20.0 percent from a year earlier, marking the seventh consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. (Last January’s $64 median per square foot was the lowest for any month since at least 1994.) The December 2012 figure was 59.0 percent lower than the peak $190 paid per square foot in May and June 2006.

Foreclosure resales continued to wane in December, while short sales made up a substantially higher share of the resale market compared with a year earlier.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 11.7 percent of Las Vegas resale activity in December – the lowest since June 2007, when it was 11.0 percent. December's figure was down from 13.5 percent the month before and 52.3 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – accounted for an estimated 43.5 percent of the Las Vegas-area resale market in December. That compares with an estimated 41.5 percent the prior month and 27.9 percent a year earlier. The estimated short sale level has exceeded the foreclosure resale level for the past seven months.

In the wake of an October 2011 Nevada law that created additional requirements for lenders trying to foreclose on properties, the number of notices of default (“NODs”) filed in Clark County plummeted. However, over the past few months NODs have trended higher compared with a year earlier. In December, lenders filed NODs on 1,711 single-family houses and condo units, up 2.5 percent from the prior month and up 85.8 percent from a year earlier. In 2012, lenders filed 17,666 NODs, down 59.7 percent from 2011. The notice of default is the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

In December, lenders foreclosed on 697 single-family house and condo units in the Las Vegas region, up 10.5 percent from the month before and down 60.2 percent from a year earlier. Last year lenders foreclosed on 13,087 homes, down 60.0 percent from 2011.

Many of these distressed homes are purchased by investors, who continue to account for a near-record share of all sales.

Absentee buyers – mainly investors and vacation-home buyers – purchased 50.6 percent of all homes sold in the Las Vegas area in December. That was up from 49.0 percent the month before and up from 47.2 percent a year earlier. The peak was 51.2 percent last March. Absentee buyers paid a median $125,000 in December, up 31.6 percent from $95,000 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.

In December, 135 Las Vegas-area buyers purchased two or more homes on the open market (excludes foreclosure auctions). That was down from 157 multi-home buyers during December 2011, based on an analysis of buyer names in the public record. (Note: In some cases individuals and partnerships buy under different names). In December 2012, multi-home buyers purchased 512 homes, which amounts to 11.4 percent of all homes sold and represents a nearly 24 percent increase from the number of properties that multi-home buyers purchased in December 2011. There were 44 buyers in December 2012 that each purchased three or more homes, but only eight of them bought 10 or more. Combined, the eight buyers who purchased 10 or more homes in December 2012 acquired 185 homes, or about 36 percent of all homes bought by multi-home buyers. In December 2011, two purchasers bought more than 10 homes, buying a total of 38 properties.

Cash buyers purchased 52.8 percent of the Las Vegas-area homes that sold in December. That was up from a cash-buyer share of 50.7 percent of total sales the month before and up from 48.9 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. Cash buyers paid a median $120,000 in December, up 48.1 percent from $81,000 a year earlier.

To see the home sale chart, visit DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

2012 California Million Dollar Home Sales Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:28:00 +0000

California 2012 Million-Dollar Home Sales Highest in Five Years

January 30, 2013

The number of Golden State homes sold for a million dollars or more rose to its highest level since 2007, fueled by a recovering economy, rising home prices and a record number of cash purchases. The number of homes sold for more than $5 million rose to an all-time high, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 26,993 homes sold for $1 million-plus last year, up 26.9 percent from 21,267 in 2011. It was the most sold since 42,502 homes crossed the million-dollar threshold in 2007, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

The all-time high was 2005, when 54,773 homes sold for a million dollars or more. Last year's 26.9 percent year-over-year sales gain outpaced the state's market as a whole: Overall sales totaled 447,573, up 8.2 percent from 413,479 in 2011.

"It should go without saying that buyers and sellers in the prestige market tend to respond to different motivations and incentives than the rest of the market. Job security, down payment sizes and mortgage interest rates don't play the same role. Returns on investments in a low interest-rate financial environment and safe-haven investing do play a role," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The sales distribution of luxury homes has shifted during the past two years, with record sales at the very high end. Statewide, 697 homes sold for more than $5 million last year, an all-time high and well above the previous high of 491 in 2011. In the $4-$5 million range a record 460 homes sold, well above 344 in 2011 (and 342 in 2005). In the $3-$4 million range, 1,104 homes sold, slightly ahead of 1,046 in 2005.

Sales totaled 3,266 in the $2-$3 million range, well behind 2005 when 4,070 sold (and behind 2006 and 2007 as well). In the $1-$2 million range, 17,762 sold last year, around half of the 34,145 sold in 2005.

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

The million-dollar transactions include home sales where it could be determined from public records that there was a buyer, a seller, that money changed hands, and that there was a legal transfer of property ownership. Not included were property swaps, sales of multiple lots, sales where no price or loan amount was available, teardowns, and large farm or ranch properties. Sales to companies and trusts were included.

Last year 7,791 of the million-dollar home buyers paid cash, a record number, up from 5,802 in 2011. Cash was used more frequently the higher up the price scale. Of those who did finance their purchase last year, the median down payment was 25.9 percent of the purchase price. The lending institutions most willing to provide mortgage financing for $1 million-plus homes were Wells Fargo, Union Bank and First Republic Bank.

The most expensive confirmed purchase last year was an 8,930-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 4 1/2-bathroom home in Woodside built in 2005 on just under nine acres which sold for $117,500,000 in November. The largest was a 20,248 sq.ft. 7-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion in Bel Air.

Virtually all home sales in some communities were in the $1 million-plus category. Among them were the following: Ross in Marin County; San Marino and Santa Monica in Los Angeles County; Los Altos in Santa Clara County; Atherton and Hillsborough in San Mateo County; and Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County.

Newly-built homes accounted for 4.9 percent of last year's $1 million-plus sales, down from 5.9 percent in 2011. Condo sales made up 9.2 percent of the million-dollar category last year, down slightly from 8.0 percent the year before. Most $1 million-plus condos were sold in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego counties.

The median-sized home that sold for $1 million-plus was 2,641 sq.ft. with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The median price paid per square foot for all million-dollar homes in 2012 was $641, up 5.5 percent from $607 in 2011. For the overall California market, the square-foot median was $162 last year, up 12.5 percent from $144 in 2011, DataQuick reported.

There are 8.66 million houses and condos in California. Of those, 246,318, or 2.8 percent, are assessed for $1 million or more by county assessor offices, DataQuick reported.

To view a list of the top million dollar communities in California, visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2013 DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.

4Q12 California Foreclosures Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:41:00 +0000

California: Foreclosure Starts Lowest Since 2006

January 23, 2013

La Jolla, CA.--The number of California homeowners pushed into the foreclosure process fell last quarter to the lowest level in six years, the result of rising home values, an improving economy and a shift toward short sales, a real estate information service reported.

During fourth-quarter 2012 lenders recorded a total of 38,212 Notices of Default (NoDs) on California houses and condos. That was down 22.1 percent from 49,026 during the prior three months, and down 37.9 percent from 61,517 in fourth-quarter 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last quarter's number was the lowest since 37,994 NoDs were recorded in fourth-quarter 2006. New foreclosure filings (NoDs) peaked in first-quarter 2009 at 135,431. DataQuick's NoD statistics go back to 1992.

"Home values increased through most of 2012, and the rate of increase picked up toward the end of the year. That means fewer and fewer homeowners are underwater, where they owe more than their homes are worth. That in turn means they can sell and pay off the mortgage, or perhaps refinance at today's low interest rates. This trend alone suggests we'll see a continued decline in foreclosure rates this year. Another factor is the foreclosure-avoidance goals of various settlements between lenders and the government," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The median price paid for a home last quarter was $300,000 in California, up 22.4 percent from a year ago and 32.2 percent off the median's $227,000 bottom in first-quarter 2009, DataQuick reported.

Foreclosure resales accounted for 16.6 percent of all California resale activity last quarter, down from 20.0 percent the prior quarter and 33.6 percent a year ago. It peaked at 57.8 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Foreclosure resales - properties foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - varied significantly by county last quarter, from 5.0 percent in San Francisco County to 31.4 percent in Sutter County.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 26.0 percent of statewide resale activity last quarter. That was down from an estimated 26.4 percent the prior quarter and up from 25.7 percent of all resales a year earlier. The estimated number (rather than percentage) of short sales last quarter rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier.

NoD filings fell in all home price categories last quarter. But mortgage defaults remained far more concentrated in California's most affordable neighborhoods. Zip codes with fourth-quarter 2012 median sale prices below $200,000 collectively saw 5.5 NoDs filed for every 1,000 homes in those zip codes. The ratio was 3.5 NoDs filed per 1,000 homes for zip codes with $200,000 to $800,000 medians, while there were 1.3 NoDs filed per 1,000 homes for the group of zips with medians above $800,000.

Most of the loans going into default are still from the 2005-2007 period: The median origination quarter for defaulted loans is still third-quarter 2006. That has been the case for three years, indicating that weak underwriting standards peaked then.

The most active "beneficiaries" in the formal foreclosure process last quarter were Wells Fargo (6,611), JP Morgan Chase (4,275) and Bank of America (2,005).

The trustees who pursued the highest number of defaults last quarter were NDex West (mostly for Wells Fargo), Cal-Western Reconveyance (also Wells Fargo) and Quality Loan Service Corp (Bank of America).

On primary mortgages, California homeowners were a median eight months behind on their payments when the lender filed the Notice of Default. The borrowers owed a median $14,364 on a median $308,885 mortgage.

On home equity loans and lines of credit in default, borrowers owed a median $4,693 on a median $77,187 credit line. The amount of the credit line that was actually in use cannot be determined from public records.

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. Notices of Default are recorded at county recorders offices and mark the first step of the formal foreclosure process.

Although 38,212 default notices were filed last quarter, they involved 37,343 homes because some borrowers were in default on multiple loans (e.g. a primary mortgage and a line of credit).

Of the state's larger counties, mortgages were least likely to go into default in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Marin counties. The probability was highest in Yuba, Madera and Tulare counties.

Trustees Deeds recorded (TDs), or the finalized loss of a home to the formal foreclosure process, totaled 21,127 during the fourth quarter. That was down 7.9 percent from 22,949 foreclosures in the prior quarter, and down 32.4 percent from 31,260 in fourth-quarter 2011. Last quarter's foreclosure tally was the lowest for any quarter since second-quarter 2007, when 17,458 homes were foreclosed on. The all-time peak was 79,511 foreclosures in third-quarter 2008. The state's all-time low was 637 in second-quarter 2005, DataQuick reported.

Just as with mortgage default filings, foreclosures remained far more concentrated in the state's most affordable communities. Zip codes with fourth-quarter 2012 median sale prices below $200,000 collectively saw 4.3 homes foreclosed on for every 1,000 homes in existence. That compares with 2.0 foreclosures per 1,000 homes for zip codes with medians from $200,000 to $800,000, and 0.5 foreclosure per 1,000 homes in the group of zips with medians over $800,000.

On average, homes foreclosed on last quarter took 8.9 months to wind their way through the formal foreclosure process, beginning with an NoD. That's up from an average of 7.9 months the prior quarter and down from 9.7 months a year earlier.

While 1.1 million of California's 8.7 million houses and condos have been involved in a foreclosure proceeding the past five years, 780,000 - less than ten percent, were actually lost to foreclosure. The other 320,000 were either sold, or the payments brought current.

At formal foreclosure auctions held statewide last quarter, an estimated 42.0 percent of the foreclosed properties were bought by investors or others who don't appear to be lender or government entities. That was up from an estimated 39.2 percent the previous quarter and up from 31.2 percent a year earlier, DataQuick reported.

To view defaults and foreclosures by county, visit DQNews.com.

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

December California Home Sale Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (DQNews and Custom Reports) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:24:00 +0000

California December Home Sales

January 16, 2013

An estimated 39,760 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month, up 6.1 percent from 37,481 in November, and up 5.4 percent from 37,734 sales in December 2011, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

An increase in sales from November to December is normal for the season. December sales in California have varied from a low of 25,585 in 2007 to a high of 66,503 in 2003. Last month’s sales were 9.4 percent below the average of 43,891 sales for all months of December since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $299,000, the highest since it was $301,000 in August 2008. Last month's median was up 2.7 percent from $291,000 in November and up 21.5 percent from $246,000 in December 2011. December was the 10th consecutive month in which the state's median sale price rose year-over-year. In March/April/May 2007 the median peaked at $484,000, then it declined to a low of $221,000 in April 2009.

Of the existing homes sold in December, 15.5 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from a revised 16.9 percent in November and down from 33.9 percent a year earlier. Last month's figure was the lowest for any month since foreclosure resales accounted for 15.3 percent of the resale market in October 2007. Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent in February 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 25.3 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was down from an estimated 26.1 percent the month before and 25.5 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,054. That was up from $1,026 in November and up from $935 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 54.1 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 62.8 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 have leveled off. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but has been trending downward and is well below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and cash and non-owner-occupied buying remains at a high, DataQuick reported.

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

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

Copyright DataQuick. All rights reserved.