According to the San Mateo Association of Realtors, in January of 2012 there were 1,172 single family homes on market in San Mateo County as compared to January of 2013 there were only 545. This shows that the market has significantly shifted from a buyers market towards a sellers market including a jump in average sales price of 20% for San Mateo County.

“For the past several months I have experienced buyers confronted with multiple offers resulting in homes selling for substantially over listing price.” says Teixeira. “I really feel that the strength of silicon valley and the increase in jobs growth and stability is what we’re seeing reflected in the boost in the mid-peninsula housing market.”

This trend is shown nationally in the SP/Case Shiller composite index’s numbers of their metropolitan survey of 20 cities that show the largest improvement in residential home prices in December since July of 2006 as well as a significant and moral boosting increase in consumer confidence.

For additional information about the Bay Area real estate or San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula real estate and relocation, call Mary Ann Teixeira at (650) 241-0318, or visit her website at http://www.maryannt.com.

About Mary Ann Teixeira

Mary Ann Teixeira is a licensed REALTOR with McGuire Real Estate in Burlingame, California who specializes in relocation services, homes for sale and luxury homes.  She is a seasoned buyer’s agent who serves the San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula communities of Atherton, Burlingame, Cupertino, Hillsborough, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Woodside.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10486539.htm

Article source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1101611

“I do think some of these delinquent properties will still end up as foreclosures down the road,” notes Blomquist. “But this type of legislation is also forcing lenders to consider other creative ways of disposing of the delinquencies that may not be as difficult as foreclosure has become.”

That includes short sales, deeds in lieu of foreclosure and a growing trend of selling off bad loans to investors. The investors, since they are buying at a deep discount, are able to offer more drastic modifications to keep borrowers in their homes.

(Read More: Americans Are UsingTheir Houses as ATMs Again)

Short sales, when the property is sold for less than the mortgage, are becoming ever more frequent. Nearly 26 percent of Southern California home sales in January were short sales, according to DataQuick, while just 15 percent were foreclosure sales. Investor and cash buying was at or near record levels.

“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.

With legal changes in California, Florida now has the dubious distinction of having the most properties with foreclosure filings in the nation. One in every 300 homes had a filing in January, according to RealtyTrac. That is twice the national average.

(Read More: Big Banks Told to Review Their Own Foreclosures )

States that require a judge in the foreclosure process, like Illinois and New Jersey, saw big January jumps in foreclosure auctions (sales back to the bank or to an investor), but non-judicial states saw the biggest increases in newly started foreclosures. In Nevada, where new legislation slowed the process dramatically last year, foreclosure starts were up 87 percent from a year ago.

While the numbers can be parsed in many ways, the bottom line is that while fewer borrowers are getting into trouble, an enormous backlog of distress is still moving through the foreclosure system, in some places quite quickly, and in others ever more slowly. Until the overall numbers come down to a more normal level, any speculation on overall price stability is risky at best.

(Read More: Mortgage Mess StillMires US Housing Recovery)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100460456

(Read More: Beware the Escape Hatch in the New Mortgage Rules)

“Many homeowners may simply be deciding to play the market and wait for their home to appreciate before putting it up for sale. Despite the drop in applications, we have seen anecdotal evidence of homes selling very quickly after entering the market,” says Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans.

Days on market are shrinking across the nation, but only because supplies are so low. It’s not just the former boom to bust to boom markets, like Phoenix and Las Vegas; local Realtor associations show inventories are down dramatically from a year ago in Charlotte (-29 percent), Dallas (-19 percent), Minneapolis (-32 percent), and Washington, DC (-36 percent) to name a few.

“The low and negative equity of a large number of mortgage holders has kept significant inventory off the market, and many would-be sellers with adequate equity feed into the problem by holding off until they find something to buy,” says Jonathan Miller of CEO of Miller Samuel Inc. “I believe the chronic low inventory phenomenon we are seeing has little to do with lack of consumer confidence and more to do with reasonable access to mortgage financing.”

President Obama echoed that sentiment in his State of the Union addressTuesday night.

“Overlapping regulations keep responsible young families from buying their first home,” Mr. Obama said. Not exactly a new sentiment, as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has said the same thing several times, as have other federal regulators.

(Read More: Fewer Behind on Mortgages, but for How Long?)

Rising mortgage rates and tight credit standards keep first time-home buyers out, while falling inventories make it more difficult for existing home buyers to move up. The housing market is therefore still largely in the hands of all-cash investors, looking for distressed properties to buy and then rent out. Ironically, perhaps for now, more distressed properties coming to market will be what keeps home sales afloat.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100456918

(Read More: Beware the Escape Hatch in the New Mortgage Rules)

“Many homeowners may simply be deciding to play the market and wait for their home to appreciate before putting it up for sale. Despite the drop in applications, we have seen anecdotal evidence of homes selling very quickly after entering the market,” says Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken.

Days on market are shrinking across the nation, but only because supplies are so low. It’s not just the former boom to bust to boom markets, like Phoenix and Las Vegas; local Realtor associations show inventories are down dramatically from a year ago in Charlotte (-29 percent), Dallas (-19 percent), Minneapolis (-32 percent), and Washington, DC (-36 percent) to name a few.

“The low and negative equity of a large number of mortgage holders has kept significant inventory off the market, and many would-be sellers with adequate equity feed into the problem by holding off until they find something to buy,” says Jonathan Miller of CEO of Miller Samuel Inc. “I believe the chronic low inventory phenomenon we are seeing has little to do with lack of consumer confidence and more to do with reasonable access to mortgage financing.”

President Obama echoed that sentiment in his State of the Union addressTuesday night.

“Overlapping regulations keep responsible young families from buying their first home,” Mr. Obama said. Not exactly a new sentiment, as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has said the same thing several times, as have other federal regulators.

(Read More: Fewer Behind on Mortgages, but for How Long?)

Rising mortgage rates and tight credit standards keep first time-home buyers out, while falling inventories make it more difficult for existing home buyers to move up. The housing market is therefore still largely in the hands of all-cash investors, looking for distressed properties to buy and then rent out. Ironically, perhaps for now, more distressed properties coming to market will be what keeps home sales afloat.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100456918

“We’ve had very good housing affordability conditions for quite some time, but we’re seeing more impact now from steady job creation and rising consumer confidence about home buying now that home prices have clearly turned positive,” wrote Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR in a release. (Read More: Could Housing Be the Antidote to the ‘Fiscal Cliff’?)

Pending home sales are now at the highest level since March of 2007 and have risen, on a year-over-year basis, for 18 consecutive months. The activity, however, varies from region to region, and the Realtors say the Northeast, which saw a 0.1 percent drop in sales month-to-month- did see some impact from Hurricane Sandy.

Signed contracts also declined in the West, 1.1 percent in October month-to-month and are up just 0.9 percent from a year ago. The West is suffering from a lack of supply, as investors have been scouring the landscape for a decreasing inventory of distressed properties. (Read More: Yes, Housing Starts Surge, but Rentals Are the Drivers) 

Pending home sales surged in the Midwest, up 15.6 percent month-to-month and up 20 percent from a year ago. They were also higher in the south by 5.5 percent sequentially and by 17.4 percent from a year ago.

Realtors continue to warn that while this housing recovery seems to be gaining steam, changes to the mortgage interest deduction, as well as other potential hits to the economy from the so-called “fiscal cliff,” could derail the momentum. (Read More: Housing Still Precarious in Obama’s Second Term)

SECTOR WATCH: Construction General Building Materials

• The Home Depot
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• Lowe’s Companies
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• The Sherwin-Williams Company
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• E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
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• Apogee Enterprises
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